Word: chimera
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...heavy-metal album covers: J.K. Rowling, of course, but also Neil Gaiman, Phillip Pullman, China Mieville and George R.R. Martin. Now a fortysomething silver-haired British book editor named Susanna Clarke has done something even they couldn't. She has written Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (Bloomsbury; 800 pages), a chimera of a novel that combines the dark mythology of fantasy with the delicious social comedy of Jane Austen into a masterpiece of the genre that rivals Tolkien...
...Haiti's Monsters In "A Battle of Cannibals and Monsters," on the insurrection in Haiti [Feb. 23], you noted that the pro-government Clean Sweep militiamen are called chim?res, which is Creole for mythical monsters. In Greek mythology, the Chimera are fire-breathing monsters. Metaphorically, the word is used today to mean a fancy or unrealizable dream. Apparently, this is a very appropriate word to describe deposed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's thugs, both in being monsters and in pursuing the unrealizable dream of keeping him in power. Paris Vangelatos Casablanca
...Republic, Bush's plan is driven by a faith in the "wealth effect" -- the theory that as average Americans watched their retirement portfolios expand during last decade's boom, they felt wealthier and therefore spent more, causing a consumption binge that in turn fueled economic growth. However much a chimera it was as a measure of real wealth, the Bush team wants the "wealth effect" of the Clinton years to come back...
...cognitive illusions--but because his level of skill increases the odds of a lucky run. All long-lived phenomena are "games of a gambler playing with a limited stake against a house with infinite resources... DiMaggio activated the greatest and most unattainable dream of all humanity, the hope and chimera of all sages and shamans: he cheated death, at least for a while." This was Gould at his best--profundity with a light touch, made all the more poignant because in 1982 he survived a nasty cancer. Steve Gould cheated death, at least for a while, and while...
...were also a velvet glove for Gould's iron convictions drove many scientists crazy, but we all admired his explanatory gifts. My favorite essay was about Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak. "DiMaggio activated the greatest and most unattainable dream of all humanity," Gould wrote, "the hope and chimera of all sages and shamans: he cheated death, at least for a while." Gould at his best-profundity with a light touch, made all the more poignant because in 1982 he survived cancer. Gould cheated death, at least for a while-and he enriched our appreciation of life...