Suppose a Sentence
Published on 23. September 2020
200 pages
978-1-913097-02-8 (ISBN)
Description
In
Suppose a Sentence, Brian Dillon turns his attention to the oblique and complex pleasures of the sentence. A series of essays prompted by a single sentence - from Shakespeare to Gertrude Stein, John Ruskin to Joan Didion - the book explores style, voice, and language, along with the subjectivity of reading. Both an exercise in practical criticism and a set of experiments or challenges,
Suppose a Sentence is a polemical and personal reflection on the art of the sentence in literature. Whether the sentence in question is a rigorous expression of a state of vulnerability, extremity, even madness, or a carefully calibrated arrangement, Dillon examines not only how it works and why but also, in the course of the book, what the sentence once was, what it is today, and what it might become tomorrow.
More details
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Brian Dillon was born in Dublin in 1969. His books include
Essayism,
The Great Explosion (shortlisted for the Ondaatje Prize),
Objects in This Mirror: Essays,
I Am Sitting in a Room,
Sanctuary,
Tormented Hope: Nine Hypochondriac Lives (shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize) and
In the Dark Room, which won the Irish Book Award for non-fiction. His writing has appeared in the
Guardian,
New York Times,
London Review of Books,
Times Literary Supplement,
Bookforum,
frieze and
Artforum. He is UK editor of Cabinet magazine, and teaches Creative Writing at Queen Mary, University of London.
Content
- Intro
- PRAISE
- TITLE PAGE
- DEDICATION
- CONTENTS
- EPIGRAPH
- SENSIBILITY AS STRUCTURE
- WHAT, GONE WITHOUT A WORD? (WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE)
- FAIR HOPES OF ENDING ALL (JOHN DONNE)
- O ALTITUDO (SIR THOMAS BROWNE)
- DAGUERREOTYPE, &C. (THOMAS DE QUINCEY)
- THE EXALTATION OF LUCY SNOWE (CHARLOTTE BRONTË)
- A HISTORY OF THE LIGHTS AND SHADOWS (GEORGE ELIOT)
- TRADITIONS OF AIR (JOHN RUSKIN)
- SUPPOSE A SENTENCE (GERTRUDE STEIN)
- HOW HOW HOW WHAT WHAT WHAT HOW-WHEN (VIRGINIA WOOLF)
- ALL KINDS OF OBSCURE TENSIONS (SAMUEL BECKETT)
- (SMALL PICTURES 1915-1940) (FRANK O'HARA)
- SPLINTERS OF ACTUALITY (ELIZABETH BOWEN)
- OBEYING THE FORM OF THE CURVE (JAMES BALDWIN)
- THE GRAND ILLUSION (JOAN DIDION)
- A TOUR OF THE MONUMENTS (ROBERT SMITHSON)
- IT IS ONLY A PAPER DAGGER (MAEVE BRENNAN)
- TO EAT IS NOT TO RESPECT A MENU (ROLAND BARTHES)
- ALBEIT SUCCOURED BY A CULT (WHITNEY BALLIETT)
- THE CUNNING OF DESTRUCTION (ELIZABETH HARDWICK)
- SUITE VÉNITIENNE (SUSAN SONTAG)
- A RITUAL FEAT (ANNIE DILLARD)
- BROKEN TONGUE (THERESA HAK KYUNG CHA)
- SAVING IMPRECISION (JANET MALCOLM)
- SURPRISED HIS SHOES (FLEUR JAEGGY)
- BEFORE SHE SOLIDIFIED (HILARY MANTEL)
- GUSTO NOTWITHSTANDING (CLAIRE-LOUISE BENNETT)
- OR SOME NOT-STUPID SENTENCES (ANNE CARSON)
- LIKE HOW IF (ANNE BOYER)
- READINGS
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- COPYRIGHT
