Some notes on "About 5,750 Words"

[alecaustin]

I recently bought and read Samuel R. Delany's The Jewel-Hinged Jaw for the first time, since I wasn't aware it had been reprinted by Wesleyan (way back in 2009) until Patrick Nielsen Hayden mentioned it to me at Viable Paradise this year. Those of you who are longtime readers will know that I have a great deal of respect for Mr. Delany's critical

Comments

[alecaustin]

Delany does seem to write novels like poetry, and I'd be the last person to argue with his results. I just don't think that his method is something that can healthily be used as a model by all and sundry.

My suspicion re: the importance of words is that some of us embody our texts to a certain extent as we composed and remember them? And that yes, individual words or phrases can be pivotal to *our* conception of the work, if not that of the reader.

The thing with inhaling paragraphs is that I know that my experience of reading like that wasn't (and isn't) always linear? I can't speak for anyone else, but often when I read a particularly brief line of dialogue, say,
"When it works," Mrs. Bereton said grudgingly.
I see 'grudgingly' and the dialogue tag first, and only then does my brain go back to unpack the dialogue proper.

That isn't to say that I don't process most text linearly of late, but I had to learn to read everything in sequence, and when I hit a particularly impenetrable wall of text, I often find my eyes skipping ahead. (Lest I worry you, I have literally never had that reaction to any of your books or posts.)