Word: witting
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Mostly Golf captures the enduring appeal of Darwin's airy and cultured prose which is leavened by a trenchant wit. In later years, Darwin moved away from straight narratives of golf matches and Mostly Golf contains numerous childhood reminisces, discourse childhood reminisces, discourse on the family dogs, and humorous essays of a philosophical bent...
Frye's writing is, as always, lucid, though the last few essays are difficult for those unfamiliar with the material. In addition, his straightforward presentation is occasionally spiced by a characteristic dry wit. In "Spengler Revisited," for example, Frye writes...
...line of the backbone and the pose is held confidently. The culminating pose, however, the "Grand Arabesque, Third Time" (of which there are five or six variations in the exhibit) does not fare so well. The dancer has begun to lose her balance; and Degas communicates this with subtle wit by having her thrust her right arm away from the wing-spread position and lock elbow out in front--down towards the ground. Her palm has opened and is ready to break her fall. Of course, the statuettes leave unsaid that this maneuver might also break all the bones...
...height of Degas' sculptural wit is attained in the one statue that he put on exhibit during his lifetime (none were cast in bronze before his death) and the one that still remains his most famous piece of work in the medium. His biting humor becomes manifest in "The Little14-Year-Old Dancer," of which both the finished product and a study in the nude take their places in the exhibit. The nude study highlights the ironic contrast between the elegant, flowing pose the young ballet student has struck (her neck imperiously thrust back and her arms joined together...
...position the subject is striking) pays off in some of the more original statuettes in the exhibit. In one series, "Dancer Fastening the String of Her Tights," Degas enlists his intimate knowledge of the graceful "arabesques" (here again meaning "pattern of lines") to ingeniously turn on its head the wit of his voyeuristic studies of women doing their toilette. While this particular task might conjure up a singularly awkward and unattractive image, Degas transforms it into a pleasing, fluid pose. The right hand lies poised on the hip, leaving the arm curved backwards in an arc behind the back, while...