A Silver Dish Analysis

Then for the rest of the week Woody was busy, had jobs to run, office responsibilities, family responsibilities. He lived alone; as did his wife; as did his mistress: everybody in a separate establishment. Since his wife, after fifteen years of separation, had not learned to take care of herself, Woody did her shopping on Fridays, filled her freezer. He had to take her this week to buy shoes. Also, Friday night he always spent with Helen—Helen was his wife de facto. Saturday he did his big weekly shopping. Saturday night he devoted to Mom and his sisters. So he was too busy to attend to his own feelings except, intermittently, to note to himself, “First Thursday in the grave.” “First Friday, and fine weather.” “First Saturday; he’s got to be getting used to it.” Under his breath he occasionally said, “Oh, Pop.”

From Saul Bellow, "A Silver Dish"

In this paragraph from A Silver Dish, Bellow uses both parataxis and hypotaxis to effect. While parataxis is the dominant syntactical structure, there is an inherent ranking of the elements of his sentences, that sometimes breaks out into overt hypotaxis. The paragraph is a listing of Woody's responsibilities that he busies himself with after his father's death. The paratactical listing is detached and unemotional, reflecting Woody's reaction to his father's death, or way of mourning. "Then for the rest of the week Woody was busy, had jobs to run, office responsibilities, family responsibilities," writes Bellow. While this sentence does not explicitly rank Woody's responsibilities in order of importance, the ordering of each task between commas instructs the reader as to Woody's priorities. We learn that in the ranking of Woody's life, his family responsibilities come last, after all of his busy work is finished, exactly what the rest of the paragraph demonstrates in its structure and syntax. The first sentence is also asyndetic, emphasizing the lack of connection Woody feels to these responsibilities, most significantly, those to his family.

The next sentence makes use of anaphora. "He lived alone; as did his wife; as did his mistress: everybody in a separate establishment." Again this paratactic sentence has an inherent hierarchy in its structure. Woody comes first, then his wife, then his mistress. The structure also underscores the separation of each of Woody's family members from him, with the short clauses separated by semicolons. Despite their separation, the anaphora connects them across the semicolon breaks in a polysyndetic manner.

Alliteration in the subsequent sentences highlights the repetitive schedule of Woody's life and its obsessive organization. "...fifteen years of separation... shopping on Fridays, filled her freezer." In the next sentence, alliteration brings out the chiasmus, again emphasizing the routine that even enters into Woody's relationship with his mistress, which arguably should be more exciting, a high point in his week. "Also, Friday night he always spent with Helen—Helen was his wife de facto." Bellow could have written the sentence "Also, Friday night he always spent with Helen, his de facto wife," or he could have used a word other than de facto, but de facto mirrors Friday, and the parallelism seems to reflect a mutual affection in Woody's relationship with Helen. Alliteration continues in the next sentences, "Saturday...shopping. Saturday...sisters. So..." This alliteration connects these asyndetic sentences, which could have been connected more explicitly, since they clearly proceed in a chronological order. When at the end of the paragraph, and the end of Woody's week, Bellow is able to put aside the business of Woody and attend to his mourning for his father, the structure of the sentences proceeds in the same way, beginning with the day of the week and focusing on the passage of time. "'First Thursday in the grave.” “First Friday, and fine weather.” “First Saturday; he’s got to be getting used to it.'” Since none of these days included scheduled time with his father, Woody is able to put aside his feelings of grief, since nothing is really missing. Bellow's structuring of this paragraph heightens the emotional impact when he ends the paragraph with, "Under his breath he occasionally said, 'Oh, Pop.'” Leading into the next paragraph, in which Woody really delves into his mourning of his father, Bellow's narrative structure allows the reader to experience Woody's sense of loss when he gets to the end of his carefully ordered week and is unable to live out his Sunday as usual.

Bellow, Saul. "A Silver Dish." The New Yorker 25 September 1978, Fiction. New Yorker.com. 8 September 2009

Noun Style and Verb Style in the Newspaper

Verb Style
On the White House
A Real Fairytale Wedding
By Peter Baker
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/us/politics/03memo.html

In this article on the widespread speculation among leading newspapers about Chelsea Clinton's impending wedding to her boyfriend, Marc Mezvinsky, Baker uses a verb style which increases the pace of the sentences, reflecting the building fever of gossip he describes. The article opens with, "Here’s a newsflash: Chelsea Clinton did not get married last month in a swank, celebrity-laden wedding on Martha’s Vineyard attended by the president of the United States." The sentence is driven by the verbs, emphasizing the actions and the fact that neither of them occurred. However, Baker interrupts the verbs "get married" and "attended" with a detail enclosed in a prepositional phrase, "in a swank, celebrity-laden wedding on Martha's Vineyard". By doing this, Baker highlights the actual fodder for gossip, which is not what actions occurred, but what wealthy and influential people in a posh location may have been there. Baker's choice to write the sentence with the verbs in the passive emphasizes the lack of control that anyone implicated in the event in discussion seemed to have over its escalation.
Baker's next lengthy sentence issues a torrent of verb clauses, beginning with, "For four months, the Clintons have told anyone who would listen that there was no August wedding in the works," the past perfect verb form again emphasizing the Clinton's lack of control over the spreading misinformation. The rumors take on a life of their own, departing from the opening clause as the sentence continues, "but the rumors raced from Massachusetts to Manhattan to Washington and back again, producing one unsubstantiated headline after another around the world about the nuptials that never were." Baker increases the pace of this line with alliteration, "rumors raced," as well as our sense of space, as the news travels, "from Massachusetts to Manhattan to Washington". These rapidfire clauses of verbs come to a crashing halt with "the nuptials that never were," as Baker formally puts an end to the gossip.

Baker, Peter. "A Real Fairytale Wedding." The New York Times 2 September 2009, On the White House. NYTimes.com. 2 September 2009

Noun Style
Israel and Sweden row: Blog Wars
The Economist

Despite the very action oriented topic of this article, a dispute between Sweden and Israel over political correctness, it is written in a noun style that hesitates to make accusations against either party. After the delightful alliterated and tongue twisting sub-heading of "A Nordic Newspaper's Newsmaking," the article opens with an adverbial phrase, "Barely two months into its six-month presidency of the European Union, Sweden’s government is entangled in a scrap with Israel." While qualifying the relatively short time period in which the dispute occurred, the author delicately phrases the description of the argument and puts the blame on the Swedish government, rather than the Swedes who bought the widely read Aftonbladet. The author continues in the next sentence without defining the "scrap," referring to it only as "it." "Because it pitches Swedes’ cherished free-speech principles against Middle Eastern sensibilities, it is loaded with a wearying sense of déjà vu—and a potential to escalate." Again, the author locates the issue between the two nations in time, this time in their historical relationship, without saying anything specific about the problem. Many of the sentences in the article are front-loaded with explanatory clauses that have a simple conclusion. The writing overuses passive verb forms or weak verbs, causing its tone to be hesitant and speculative.

"Israel and Sweden row: Blog wars." The Economist 27 August 2009. Economist.com. 2 September 2009
Israel and Sweden row: Blog wars | The Economist

I was quite surprised by how difficult it was for me to find an example of noun style in journalistic work. Even in the example I found, there are only a few sentences to which noun style really applies. I think that the goal of objectivity in journalism has something to do with this. If the writer is trying to report exclusively on the facts, on what happened, the clearest and most direct way to do so is with a verb style. I think verb style writing is also much easier for readers to understand, and so appeals to a wider audience. In many cases, consumers of news don't have time to go back and decode convoluted sentences with many prepositional phrases.

Stylish Introduction

Good morning fellow close readers!

I was so impressed with the writers named yesterday when we introduced ourselves. How exciting that we are such a well read bunch, and what an ambitious list for future reading!

I hadn't wanted to be repetitive, so I didn't name drop Nabokov yesterday, although he is one of my favorite writers of all time. I love how he uses sound in his writing to heighten each syllable of every word, almost calling into question the accepted meanings of the words. This contributes to the physicality of his prose. When I read Nabokov, I feel the language moving in my mouth, inhabiting my body, and grasping at my heart. Also, his vocabulary is astounding, and allows him to make surprising juxtapositions of words.

I also have read a bunch of Milan Kundera, and I find his style reminiscent of Nabokov. I love the philosophical, metaphysical comparisons Kundera is able to make through the mundane lives of his characters, and the politics of his writing.

This summer I read Independent People by Haldor Laxness, and I thought it was really beautiful. In the same way that I thought Ian McEwan was able to capture the youth and innocence of Briony in the passage we read yesterday in his language and syntax, Laxness' prose style changes throughout the course of this epic in order to capture the points of view of different characters, and the experience of different generations. I find it really incredible when an author is able to capture the point of view of a child in his writing. Even though I am not far from my own childhood, I was astonished by the truth in Laxness' characterization of the little boy in the story. It brought me back to how I had experienced the world as a child.

I realize that I read a lot of writers in translation. This is partly because I have come across and gravitated toward writers from other linguistic and cultural traditions, and partly because I am interested in pursuing literary translation myself. I wonder what the translation process does to the style of the writer being translated when I am unable to appreciate what the translator has done due to my own language barrier. I am often impressed by the universality of translated writer, which I think lies in their specificity about their own cultures and points of view, rather than an effort to appeal to some larger idea of the human condition.

Finally, I wanted to mention Zora Neale Hurston, who I admire greatly as a stylist. For the same reasons that I admire Hurston, I admire Lovelace, who I mentioned yesterday. Both writers are able to manage the tension between spoken and written language, between creole language and the more "legitimate" or established literary language. They affect an interaction between the mother tongue and its evolutionary children through time.