“It wants to be a single word.”

The best thing (and perhaps the truest) I’ve read in the New York Times in a very long time.

(Bearing in mind that I’m a shameless fiction geek.)

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10 comments on ““It wants to be a single word.”
  1. beverly says:

    Thanks for the link–what a fantastic essay!

  2. beverly says:

    Thanks for the link–what a fantastic essay!

  3. Jill Smith says:

    Yes, a fantastic essay – I was particularly taken with the fractal nature of this statement:

    In that single grain of sand lies the beach that contains the grain of sand.

  4. Jill Smith says:

    Yes, a fantastic essay – I was particularly taken with the fractal nature of this statement:

    In that single grain of sand lies the beach that contains the grain of sand.

  5. jodi says:

    Yes, yes, yes. I’m not a writer but I am a reader, and for years I’ve wished I could articulate just this thing in such a beautiful way. As a reader I want luscious dense nuggets, not filler; a novel is a burden, a physical thing to be carried around until it’s finished, while with a short story I can read it, put it down, and carry the impressions that are left and unpack them slowly and fully at my leisure, hands free. Does that make sense?

  6. jodi says:

    Yes, yes, yes. I’m not a writer but I am a reader, and for years I’ve wished I could articulate just this thing in such a beautiful way. As a reader I want luscious dense nuggets, not filler; a novel is a burden, a physical thing to be carried around until it’s finished, while with a short story I can read it, put it down, and carry the impressions that are left and unpack them slowly and fully at my leisure, hands free. Does that make sense?

  7. Knittripps says:

    Thank you for sharing. I enjoyed reading the essay very much. What a nice way to think about the short story.

  8. Knittripps says:

    Thank you for sharing. I enjoyed reading the essay very much. What a nice way to think about the short story.

  9. Jody says:

    Wow. I had never thought about it that way. Thank you for sharing the link with us!

  10. Jody says:

    Wow. I had never thought about it that way. Thank you for sharing the link with us!

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