May 29, 2023·edited May 29, 2023Liked by Nina Schuyler
Whenever I'm challenged to imitate the syntactical form of a long sentence, I look up grammatical terms online; I google jargon-y terms such as anaphora such as antithesis, such as polysynadon and sometimes even elementary terms such as subordinate clause, but I'm undeterred, rapt with glee like crazed word scientists everywhere, for whom the challenges of sentence construction are more than outweighed by the joys of sentence creation, implausibly building meaningful ideas -- and thus a meaningful life -- out of the nerdy instruments found in a grammarian's toolchest.
May 30, 2023·edited May 30, 2023Liked by Nina Schuyler
When the Tijuana taco crawl tour guide placed an order for, inter alia, camerones al diablo and aguachile estilo Sinaloa, it occured to Steven Morris, Esq. that the south-of-the-border trouble his Tarot-happy nephew had foreseen would not come at the hands of prostitutes or carjacking banditos or even sociopathic organ smugglers but rather from so-called chefs; quick order cooks spooned incendiary sauces on enchiladas on quesadillas, on every variety of taco and even, our traveler was pretty sure, on the rims of honkin' huge margarita glasses, but the clueless tourists Steven had been thrown in with took no notice, eagerly gobbling down everything on offer with the stupid childlike joy of the gastrointestinally naive.
Thank you for this! I just stumbled on your work via Notes. I appreciate the inclusion of the translator's remarks. I'd love to read the Spanish and English side by side!
A beautiful sentence, conveying overwhelming sadness and terror. The anaphora works wonders. My favorite part: “…the years pass and thus they grow old, chained to the memory of the world they have lost.” Universal, that.
Your explication of a paragraph of Marias’ latest work with your literary choices conveys a study of construction that is a delight to read and understand the structure used to communicate language. Combine your efforts with your enthusiasm, as portrayed in your recent pictures, and I, along with any number of students, would enjoy learning how to write “stunning sentences.”
Life slipped that Saturday morning, that Saturday morning (was it cold or warm?) when you rang to tell me you had breast cancer; told me about the female doctoru, told me about the options of chemo and/or radiotherapy (not having chemo, not losing my hair), about what grade it was (I've forgotten) even told me about how positive you were feeling, not scared at all, but I knew you were because I knew the melodies of your voice; when you were happy, when you were in love, when you felt cheeky and perky and when you were low-blue, how the pitch deepened as you got older, how it softened when you talked about your kids, how it slurred after two glasses of Malbec, but I didn't know this scared voice and that made me scared too.
May 27, 2023·edited May 27, 2023Liked by Nina Schuyler
Here is a meager attempt at writing a complex sentence:
“No matter how many times Diane drove to Houston to visit her daughter, she always felt Fairview’s tether, as a rope on the way and a rubber band on the return, of never really leaving or of only traveling in a temporary state, which she knew was the familiar feeling anyone would dwell in their imagination, so why was she constantly reminded of the idea of a permanent residence 237 miles away from her husband for whom she loved dearly?”
Whenever I'm challenged to imitate the syntactical form of a long sentence, I look up grammatical terms online; I google jargon-y terms such as anaphora such as antithesis, such as polysynadon and sometimes even elementary terms such as subordinate clause, but I'm undeterred, rapt with glee like crazed word scientists everywhere, for whom the challenges of sentence construction are more than outweighed by the joys of sentence creation, implausibly building meaningful ideas -- and thus a meaningful life -- out of the nerdy instruments found in a grammarian's toolchest.
(Whew!)
When the Tijuana taco crawl tour guide placed an order for, inter alia, camerones al diablo and aguachile estilo Sinaloa, it occured to Steven Morris, Esq. that the south-of-the-border trouble his Tarot-happy nephew had foreseen would not come at the hands of prostitutes or carjacking banditos or even sociopathic organ smugglers but rather from so-called chefs; quick order cooks spooned incendiary sauces on enchiladas on quesadillas, on every variety of taco and even, our traveler was pretty sure, on the rims of honkin' huge margarita glasses, but the clueless tourists Steven had been thrown in with took no notice, eagerly gobbling down everything on offer with the stupid childlike joy of the gastrointestinally naive.
Thank you for this! I just stumbled on your work via Notes. I appreciate the inclusion of the translator's remarks. I'd love to read the Spanish and English side by side!
Love the photos!!
A beautiful sentence, conveying overwhelming sadness and terror. The anaphora works wonders. My favorite part: “…the years pass and thus they grow old, chained to the memory of the world they have lost.” Universal, that.
Your explication of a paragraph of Marias’ latest work with your literary choices conveys a study of construction that is a delight to read and understand the structure used to communicate language. Combine your efforts with your enthusiasm, as portrayed in your recent pictures, and I, along with any number of students, would enjoy learning how to write “stunning sentences.”
Life slipped that Saturday morning, that Saturday morning (was it cold or warm?) when you rang to tell me you had breast cancer; told me about the female doctoru, told me about the options of chemo and/or radiotherapy (not having chemo, not losing my hair), about what grade it was (I've forgotten) even told me about how positive you were feeling, not scared at all, but I knew you were because I knew the melodies of your voice; when you were happy, when you were in love, when you felt cheeky and perky and when you were low-blue, how the pitch deepened as you got older, how it softened when you talked about your kids, how it slurred after two glasses of Malbec, but I didn't know this scared voice and that made me scared too.
Here is a meager attempt at writing a complex sentence:
“No matter how many times Diane drove to Houston to visit her daughter, she always felt Fairview’s tether, as a rope on the way and a rubber band on the return, of never really leaving or of only traveling in a temporary state, which she knew was the familiar feeling anyone would dwell in their imagination, so why was she constantly reminded of the idea of a permanent residence 237 miles away from her husband for whom she loved dearly?”