Friday, March 23, 2012

The sentence: "A handful of words, artfully arranged, to stop time."


A colleague said something like: The sentence is the key element of your writing. I agree. So, I savored this column.

From the NY Times March 17, 2012

My Life’s Sentences

By JHUMPA LAHIRI

In college, I used to underline sentences that struck me, that made me look up from the page. They were not necessarily the same sentences the professors pointed out, which would turn up for further explication on an exam. I noted them for their clarity, their rhythm, their beauty and their enchantment. For surely it is a magical thing for a handful of words, artfully arranged, to stop time. To conjure a place, a person, a situation, in all its specificity and dimensions. To affect us and alter us, as profoundly as real people and things do.

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