Suppose a Sentence

Reviews / Votes

'Each chapter focuses on a sentence chosen not for its historical importance, nor for its connection to the book's other essays, but simply out of love. As Dillon puts it, his chief criterion is a sense of "affinity." What emerges is a record of appreciation, a rare treasure in an age that rewards bashing.'

- Becca Rothfeld, New York Times 'Essayist and critic Brian Dillon is in thrall to sentences. For a quarter of a century, he tells us in his marvelous new book, he has been collecting them, in "the back pages of whatever notebook I happen to be using," ... The product of decades of close reading, Suppose a Sentence is eclectic yet tightly shaped. Mr. Dillon has a taste for the more eccentric prose stylists, and lights with delight upon the likes of John Ruskin ... His essay on Thomas De Quincey is a small masterpiece ... The best and certainly most beautiful piece in the book is on Roland Barthes, "the patron saint of my sentences" without whom "I would never have written a word." It is easy to understand what Mr. Dillon means when he speaks of Barthes, one of whose books is called A Lover's Discourse, as "the most seductive writer I know," for Mr. Dillon's own book is a record of successive enrapturings.'

- John Banville, Wall Street Journal 'Dillon, with his Suppose a Sentence, a collection of reflections on the nature of the sentence, made me wonder why any of the rest of us bother trying to write non-fiction.'

- Ian Sansom, TLS 'The book has a lot of what I can only call pleasure-of the kind that I imagine athletes or dancers experience when they are doing what they do, which is then communicated to those watching them do it. I share with Dillon some misgivings about general theories and overarching ideas, but in thinking about the writing I enjoy most, this quality feels like the one constant: that the author takes some pleasure in using these muscles and finding them capable of what they are asked. That delight is evident both in the sentences Dillon looks at and in those he writes himself.'

- Hasan Altaf, Paris Review 'Reducing great writers and works to a single sentence is a provocative act, but one that in an age of 280-character opinions does not feel inappropriate. Used as we are to monosyllabic messaging and governance by tweet, it is an important reminder of the potential beauty, rather than mere convenience, that can be conjured in concision.[...] Suppose a Sentence is an absorbing defence of literary originality and interpretation, inviting us not just to take words as they first appear but to let them abstract themselves before our very eyes.'

- Chris Allnut, Financial Times 'Taking as his starting point a sentence that has intrigued him for years or, in some cases, come into his ken more recently, Brian Dillon in Suppose a Sentence ranges through the centuries exploring the associations of what he observes and discovers about his object of study and its writer, through biographical anecdote, linguistic speculation, and a look at related writings. This rich and various collection resembles a beguiling, inspiriting conversation with a personable and wry intelligence who keeps you happily up late, incites you to note some follow-up reading, and opens your eyes further to the multifarious syntactical and emotional capacities of even a few joined words of English. Enjoyable and thought-provoking reading!'

- Lydia Davis, author of Can't and Won't 'Dillon has brilliantly reinvented the commonplace book in this witty, erudite, and addictively readable guide to the sentences that have stayed with him over the years.'

- Jenny Offill, author of Weather