Friday, February 27, 2009

Edward Ashburnham is soooooooooooooo dreamy

I'd like to leave off the week with this lovely bit of description from Ford Madox Ford. Although I wouldn't normally be so bold as to write about a book I haven't finished yet, I am feeling very strongly about "The Good Soldier" right now so I think I'll make it through. Plus, this is too delicious to resist.

Let me just say that I think for me these two short lines somehow sum up what's great about Modernist writing (sort of a tall order). They let just a little bit of instability into what would ordinarily be a throwaway line about yet another pair of baby blues. They show how tightly bound together language and experience are, and how reference is not a given -- just when you think you know what someone is pointing to it shifts out of range.

Or maybe I just have a thing for blue eyes?

"I had forgotten about his eyes. They were as blue as the sides of a certain type of box of matches." -p. 26

OK, that's all.

Have a good weekend!

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