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unearths some literary gems.
From "The Inventions of I. Compton-Burnett," by Mary McCarthy:
***Most criticism of her is replete with lists...her critics are prone to count, divide, and classify, not always accurately, to measure the ratio of dialogue to description on a page. This counting, these laborious measurements, as of an unknown object--a giant footprint or a flying saucer--denote critical bafflement.***The unspoken thought comes alive in Compton-Burnett, so that you can almost hear it breathing. Something similar happens with figures of speech--metaphors. Whatever is figurative in these curious books is likely to become literal....Many a dead metaphor is an Enoch Arden come back to life at an inopportune moment.Words and phrases talk of their own volition....The word "patience"...suddenly throws off its disguise and is found to be "a condensed form" of impatience. "Patience contains more impatience than anything else."***The corpus of Shakespeare has been acting like a corpse--slowly decomposing and enriching the humus.***
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