Thank you for this stunningly gorgeous passage and post. I have not read much Rushdie; must remedy this! His writing feels like the literary equivalent of the Big Bang, and all that comes after. Such a generous soul. Long may he live and write, pissing off the rigid-minded, until they open like…a rose.
You do feel his generosity in his sentences and registration of the joy of life. A freedom there, which seems perfect, a delight in the process of invention.
Yes, and yes. Thank you, Nina, again, for posting this. I was so demoralized, waking up yesterday with this news. But joy and delight overpower fear and loathing, I think, I dream, I hope. His words and syntax trumpet life and love.
Thank you! I love words and sentences more each day. And, I have a four-year-old son: it is such a joy to hear him experiment with syntax, to see him make new connections. Parallel tracks, cultivating beginner’s mind where possible.
(Thank you also for your Substack, which I am just discovering. So much to learn about branching out and about!)
She had left her bed like a crack severs a glass vase and now she wants to sweep its shards away, she had rescued an insect from floundering in a cup of soup and now she waits anxiously for its wings to dry, because she finds herself in a mess of her own making, out in a gigantic world with its own grander design.
This is lovely! The images are powerful and are in conversation with each other--something breaking, something harmed. I like the repetition, too, of "own"--her own making/its own grander design.
Thank you, (beginning to recognize a comma splice!) I fell short of the teeth/meal/appetite/feast logic. Appreciate the chance to try, gave me insight into how stunning the Rushdie.
Great sentence. Despite the complexity, it reads straight through, clearly and cleanly.
I don't understand exactly which part of the second independent sentence is modified by the subordinate clauses. When I read it, I thought of the subordinate clauses as HIS observations so that it must be modifying 'she alarmed him' even though it makes her action and the chauffeur's action more specific. It is modifying 'she alarmed him' or 'the ferocity of her appetites'? I feel a shift in perspective in the end.
Reading further, it seems that the sentence is 'she alarmed him' which the dependent clause modifying the clause with 'because she began to feast on him'. The remaining clauses modify 'began', that is, at what moment she began to feast. Is this right?
Good points. I think it's hard to parse because those final subordinating clauses are adding further specificity to the ferocity of her appetites and to his alarm. His alarm is connected to or linked to that ferocity. But now when I read it again, the word "because" seems to most directly answer the question--why was he alarmed?
Thank you for this stunningly gorgeous passage and post. I have not read much Rushdie; must remedy this! His writing feels like the literary equivalent of the Big Bang, and all that comes after. Such a generous soul. Long may he live and write, pissing off the rigid-minded, until they open like…a rose.
David,
You do feel his generosity in his sentences and registration of the joy of life. A freedom there, which seems perfect, a delight in the process of invention.
Yes, and yes. Thank you, Nina, again, for posting this. I was so demoralized, waking up yesterday with this news. But joy and delight overpower fear and loathing, I think, I dream, I hope. His words and syntax trumpet life and love.
Absolutely true.
PS: Love the rhythms of your sentences! The balance, the pairing.
Thank you! I love words and sentences more each day. And, I have a four-year-old son: it is such a joy to hear him experiment with syntax, to see him make new connections. Parallel tracks, cultivating beginner’s mind where possible.
(Thank you also for your Substack, which I am just discovering. So much to learn about branching out and about!)
She had left her bed like a crack severs a glass vase and now she wants to sweep its shards away, she had rescued an insect from floundering in a cup of soup and now she waits anxiously for its wings to dry, because she finds herself in a mess of her own making, out in a gigantic world with its own grander design.
This is lovely! The images are powerful and are in conversation with each other--something breaking, something harmed. I like the repetition, too, of "own"--her own making/its own grander design.
Thank you, (beginning to recognize a comma splice!) I fell short of the teeth/meal/appetite/feast logic. Appreciate the chance to try, gave me insight into how stunning the Rushdie.
Great sentence. Despite the complexity, it reads straight through, clearly and cleanly.
I don't understand exactly which part of the second independent sentence is modified by the subordinate clauses. When I read it, I thought of the subordinate clauses as HIS observations so that it must be modifying 'she alarmed him' even though it makes her action and the chauffeur's action more specific. It is modifying 'she alarmed him' or 'the ferocity of her appetites'? I feel a shift in perspective in the end.
Reading further, it seems that the sentence is 'she alarmed him' which the dependent clause modifying the clause with 'because she began to feast on him'. The remaining clauses modify 'began', that is, at what moment she began to feast. Is this right?
It is hard to parse this sentence.
Tom,
Good points. I think it's hard to parse because those final subordinating clauses are adding further specificity to the ferocity of her appetites and to his alarm. His alarm is connected to or linked to that ferocity. But now when I read it again, the word "because" seems to most directly answer the question--why was he alarmed?