Word: triteness
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
When science fiction gets over its trite romance with the parts catalog, it can achieve unnerving power. Aldous Huxley and George Orwell are the classic exemplars of that small, elite class of science-fiction writers who frighten and annoy science-fiction devotees. Huxley's Brave New World (1932) bursts with prescient speculation: "feelie" multimedia, Prozac-like "soma" tranquilizers, test-tube babies. Late in life Huxley became a psychedelics guru, seduced by the potent allure of brain chemistry...
...always been a greeting-card snob. My rules: No dumb jokes, no trite sayings and definitely no electronic greeting cards. As far as I was concerned, only a cheapskate would send an electronic greeting instead of the real deal, signed in ink and sealed with a kiss. So I was more than a little skeptical on my birthday when I came across a message in my e-mail In box titled "Celebrate--From Martin." But when I clicked on the message and followed its instructions to copy a Web address into my browser, my cynicism melted. There, bursting onscreen...
...portrait displayed. Reclining on a pillow whose filigreed embroideries of butterflies merge with the platinum waves of her hair, Bouban's marmoreal face achieves the vacuity of expression associated with mannequins or dolls. Her smooth skin seems carved out of soap. But Wols's depiction is more than a trite objectification of a woman's face. Though she is reclining, this is not an image of repose. He effects the same response as that engendered in his self-portraits: the image is impossible to penetrate. Aside from the details of her features, one cannot learn anything about her; her expression...
...portrait displayed. Reclining on a pillow whose filigreed embroideries of butterflies merge with the platinum waves of her hair, Bouban's marmoreal face achieves the vacuity of expression associated with mannequins or dolls. Her smooth skin seems carved out of soap. But Wols's depiction is more than a trite objectification of a woman's face. Though she is reclining, this is not an image of repose. He effects the same response as that engendered in his self-portraits: the image is impossible to penetrate. Aside from the details of her features, one cannot learn anything about her; her expression...
...portrait displayed. Reclining on a pillow whose filigreed embroideries of butterflies merge with the platinum waves of her hair, Bouban's marmoreal face achieves the vacuity of expression associated with mannequins or dolls. Her smooth skin seems carved out of soap. But Wols's depiction is more than a trite objectification of a woman's face. Though she is reclining, this is not an image of repose. He effects the same response as that engendered in his self-portraits: the image is impossible to penetrate. Aside from the details of her features, one cannot learn anything about her; her expression...