– Definition: adj. Having a meaning that is mysterious or obscure – Used in a sentence: The president’s* speeches are somewhat cryptic to those who don’t share his gestalt, and altogether not for those who do. – Why: What with…
Category: Crit
Examination, analysis, appreciation.
First Graf: Torah
(BE HONEST — YOU MUST HAVE known I’d get around to this one eventually, right?) I make no rigid claims of authenticity, accuracy, or authorship for this work. As far as I’m concerned, this is “simply” a collection of ancient…
“…And Just Exactly What Is A ‘Buopoth?'”
“MUCH HAS BEEN WRITTEN ABOUT the quaint and lumbering buopoths native to the Exilic Lands and other curious places – but to this day, little remains understood about the shy beasts beyond the proverb that ‘they will haul all day…
My point, once again, is not that those ancient people told literal stories and we are now smart enough to take them symbolically, but that they told them symbolically and we are now dumb enough to take them literally.”
— John Dominic Crossan
First Graf: The Dharma Bums
IN MANY WAYS, THIS 1958 book is better than the earlier On the Road. Kerouac’s signature stream-of-consciousness narrative style is more flowy, and the novel’s lionized centerperson (poet Gary Snyder, or “Japhy Ryder” as tDB calls him) a more noble…
Words to Bring Back: “Lacustrine”
– Definition: adj.; geological Of or pertaining to lakes. – Used in a sentence: I prefer deep-water sailing to the lacustrine variety. – Why: For one thing, it feels good in the mouth. However, I must admit to some self-service…
5 Thoughts: The Third Thing
1. ONE OF THE THINGS THAT frustrates me as a writer is my own self-limitation. Specifically, I am speaking of the notoriously difficult and bothersome Third Thing. 2. The Third Thing works like this. I will write a sentence that…
First Graf (well, page): Harold and the Purple Crayon
THE FIRST BOOK I EVER read from cover to cover was Crockett Johnson’s 1955 work, Harold and the Purple Crayon. If you’re not familiar with it, it goes like this: A small boy in one-piece pajamas draws with, well, purple…
Words to Bring Back: “Pernicious”
– Definition: adj. Having a harmful effect, especially in a gradual or subtle way. – Used in a sentence: Pernicious “tweets” should not become a presidential* standard. – Why: It’s enough out of current usage to possibly sound like a…
First Graf: The Histories
WERE IT NOT FOR HERODOTUS — lauded as the “Father of History,” derided as the “Father of Lies” — we would know nothing of, among other things, the tale of King Leonidas and the 300 Spartans and how it affected…
Pithyism #69b
DO WE RESEMBLE OUR TOOLS, or do our tools resemble us? (I’m including in this equation notional tools like webspace, word-processing software, Facebook’s post-ranking choices, etc.)
Words to Bring Back: “Parvenu”
– Definition: n. a person of obscure origin who has gained wealth, influence, or celebrity. – Used in a sentence: I like to think the electorate smiles unkindly on parvenus, but evidence indicates otherwise. – Why: Because, in the early…