Word: idiom
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...Pepicelli," the first story, by James Buechler is written in the idiom of an Italian laborer. Had it been done poorly, the prose might have spoiled the treatment of a simple mind confronted by the mysterious, in this case a motorcycle. To Pepicelli, the machine becomes a sort of magic carpet or Genie, and escape from a stolid, unromantic wife. But the motorcycle is not only an escape, it is an end in itself, it becomes his mistress, and in the end it and Pepicelli disappear down the street, never to return...
...profundity, and then lights invariably on the latter's side. There are many trite lines in his exposition, but he uses them to advantage, and they seem to enhance rather than detract from a description. It is unwise to think that he is consciously striving for an idiom, because his range of character cannot be so confined. Perhaps the best that can be said of this prose is that it is intriguing. It is also wonderfully readable...
...while serving as his country's ambassador (1952-53). He picked up U.S. slang, went often to watch the Washington Senators, took to bowling with his embassy staff. He drove around most of the 48 states with his pretty wife and two teen-age sons, collecting American gadgets, idiom and ideas...
Berg: Violin Concerto (Louis Krasner; Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Artur Rodzinsky; Columbia). One of the meatiest, most listenable concertos of the century, played by the man who introduced it in 1936. Written in the twelve-tone technique, it combines all the nervous subtleties of that idiom with the undeniable decadence of Berg's own style, but still appeals strongly to the ear. More complex (and less appealing) is the piece on the reverse side: another great modern...
More a novel by courtesy than by craft, Gulf Stream North makes what its characters do seem a good deal more real than what they are, makes the special idiom they talk most real of all. Author Conrad regards Gulf Stream North as the completion of an "idiom trilogy" that began with Scottsboro Boy and continued with Rock Bottom. When the men of the Moona Waa Togue "crap up the captain" (praise him), sing their work chanteys ("Who emptied out the bottles from hea-a-ven-n-n, and let the rain fall down-w-w-n-n?"), or joke...