Word: witting
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
John Crowe Ransom says that Jarrell wore a "triple crown"-"a pure Pity, an embracing Weltschmerz, and a wry ironic Wit." The pity sometimes seemed absent from his own reviews. Alfred Kazin recalls a sideswipe in which Jarrell wrote that some crypto poet's work had "hidden treasures," but that finding them was "like looking for the gold in sea water." This sort of wit provided the sparkle to his otherwise brackish novel, Pictures from an Institution...
...Baltimore who did in her boy friend with a nine-iron, and I'm here to tell you it's about time lethal weapons such as this should be regulated by the Federal Government. First, there should be a nationwide registration of all golf clubs. . ." Echoing this wit, Guns suggested that since there is so much rape in the U.S., the registration of male genitalia should be considered...
...knowledgeable about the "Troubles." Even so, he has already been reproached by Irish critics of the book, on its appearance in England, for having misunderstood the city. This must have given Pritchett great pleasure, as it confirms one of his points about Dubliners: along with the celebrated wit, malice to all is one of their qualities. So is secrecy. Having asked the whereabouts of an old friend, he got this reply: "I have no treasonable information...
...flashes of the perceptive wit which marked Roth's previous books do occur. His next book will be far more successful if Roth can develop important statements about America like those in When She Was Good by means of the brilliant details' of his previous books...
...Worst of all, there are dreams-long, logical un-dreamlike dreams that exhaust the read er even faster than they do Diddy. Yet for all its flights, most of the writing is conventional dialogue and ordinary continuity, with a few set-piece scenes that feebly attempt Nabokovian wit...