Friday, August 24, 2007

Yet Another Meme

I stole a meme off Stefanie.

List some of your favorite words:
Languid. Robust. Vigour. Bombastic. Boobies. Oooh-la-la. Romp. Blob.

And my all time favourite: Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Yes, it's a name. But try saying it out loud six times and feel her name roll on your tongue.

What’s your favorite maxim or proverb?
"A broken heart is an open heart."
~ Gretel Ehrlich

What’s your favorite quotation?
I can't limit it to one.

"Must then a Christ perish in torment in every age to save those that have no imagination"
~ George Bernard Shaw, Saint Joan

"Passion will work in the fields for seven years for the beloved and on being cheated work for seven more, but passion, because it is noble, will not long accept another's left-over."
~ Jeanette Winterson, The Passion

What’s your favorite first line of a novel?
"Why is the measure of love loss?"
~ Jeanette Winterson, Written on the Body

Give an example of a piece of description that’s really pleased you in your reading lately:
"Red is the most joyful and dreadful thing in the physical universe; it is the fiercest note, it is the highest light, it is the place where the walls of this world of ours wear thinnest and something beyond burns through. It glows in the blood which sustains and in the fire which destroys us, in the roses of our romance and in the awful cup of our religion. It stands for all passionate happiness, as in faith or in first love."
~ G.K. Chesterton, The Red Town

Okay, this isn't from my recent reading, but everytime I read it I feel good.

Guess what's my favourite colour?

Which five writers do you particularly admire for their use of language?
Carol Ann Duffy, Michael Ondaatje, Mary Oliver, Jeanette Winterson and G. K. Chesterton

(I named 3 poets – 4 if you include Chesterton, who has written some verses too. I always consider Ondaatje a poet who happens to write the occasional novels)

And are there writers whose style you really dislike?
Dan Brown. Dan Brown. Dan Brown.

What’s the key to really fine writing, in your opinion?
Wit and passion, with a strong self of self-awareness. Words that inspire and make me feel.

You think you feel like doing this? Please go ahead.

12 comments:

Andi said...

Great answers! I've been thinking of doing this meme myself, but haven't gotten around to it just yet.

And the "red" quote is fantastic. My favorite color as well.

Andi said...

Oh, and Spivak was a professor to one of my professors from my Master's program. She once told us that Spivak greeted her students at the door in a neglige when they arrived for a party.

A little dirt for ya. :)

Rebecca H. said...

I like your point about self-awareness in good writing. Nice answers!

darkorpheus said...

Andi Some of the questions are more challenging than they seem. Favourite quotes - that depends, doesn't it.

I'm tempted to ask - what colour was the neglige? Going to tell my friends about it. Thanks for the dirt. Hee.

Dorothy Thanks. I actually have more quotations - but decide to cut them to 2.

Andi said...

LOL, I don't know. I wish we'd asked her, but I think we were all too shocked to close our mouths and come up with questions.

Anonymous said...

Like I have commented in Bookgirl's Nightstand, this one would require a bit of research into my reading journal. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying all your answer. :)

Kudos to Dan Brown.

The five authors question would be difficult. Maragret Atwood, Michael Ondaajte, Kazuo Ishiguro, John Banville, ...

darkorpheus said...

Andi Hee. I would probably be stunned for a second too - but my gossipy self would take over and I would need to know details! That's the real reason for literary studies - the dirt.

Matt I thought of doing research at first - but after a while I just ran with it. Not sure how "Oooh-la-la" came to mind as a word though.

Oh god. Don't get me started on Dan Brown. My veins throb when I first started on Da Vinci Code. The writing was so chunky and amateurish. The plot wasn't even believable or remotely intelligent.

John Banville?

Anonymous said...

John Banville is rather an eclectic author. He's Irish and has authored quite a number of book, the most recent being The Sea.

He is one of the authors in the books of whom I find so many unfamiliar vocabulary! I need a dictionary handy at the end of the day if I couldn't figure out the words from the context.

Try "Shroud." It's a good read.

Anonymous said...

Oh yes, Mary Oliver is fantastic! And, so agree with you on Dan Brown. Eek.

darkorpheus said...

Matt Banville has always been a writer a little off the radar until "The Sea". But a lot of the reviews from friends who read him were negative. I'll try to keep him in mind though. Thanks.

Iliana Oh yes, Dan Brown. I picked up the "Da Vinci Code" with an open mind. But then I read the unwieldy prose and I wanted to scream.

Mary Oliver - I love how her language is always so simple, but it hits you right in the heart. She's so precise with language she doesn't need flourish.

Anonymous said...

Languid is a good word. And Mary Oliver is an awesome poet. Love the Chesterton quote. My study is red--red walls, red book shelves, red reading chaise--and I absolutely love it.

darkorpheus said...

Stefanie Languid is my favourite state of being. Like to just not move.

I'm imagining a study with red walls, red bookshelves and red reading chaise (Really? You are decadent.) I find that thought very nice.