CONTACT CAROLINE
facebook
rss
tumblr
twitter
goodreads
youtube

  • Home
  • Write Away Blog
  • Books
    • Books
    • Trompe l’Oeil
    • Heart Land
    • Gothic Spring
    • Ballet Noir
    • Book Excerpts
  • Video Interviews
  • Press
    • News
    • Print Interviews
    • Plays
    • Ballet Noir in the Press
    • Trompe l’Oeil In The Press
    • Gothic Spring In The Press
    • Heart Land Reviews
  • Contact
  • About
  • Resources
    • Writer Resources
    • Favorite Blogs
    • Favorite Artists



Talk Of That And That

Jun 17, 2015
by Caroline Miller
James Guriel, Japanese Maple, Jason Guriel, onomatopoetic devices
0 Comment

I wish literary critics would say what they mean.  Being vague or abstruse hardly qualifies them to make comments about other people’s writing.  Jason Guriel’s recent praise of Clive James’ poem, “Japanese Maple,” is an example of critical opacity. (“A Final Flood of Color,” by Jason Guriel, New Republic, May 2015 pg. 84.)

 James is a writer/poet suffering from leukemia. In his poem, he sees death approaching yet takes comfort in a newly planted Japanese Maple which he hopes to see burst into its first blaze  before he dies. 

             What I must do

            Is live to see that.  That will end the game

 About these lines Guriel writes, “…the doubling up of ‘that,’ project[s] a sense of control and provides just enough jolt.” (Ibid, pg. 84.)  Jolt?  Whatever does he mean?  And what  sort of control does he refer to?

In the hands of an amateur, the use of “that” would appear vacuous.  Instead of dazzling us with a bright image, the unknown poet drops an empty word, twice.  What jolts is a paucity of art.  Yet Guriel insists the lines are artful.  Unfortunately, he feels no obligation to explain why — as if papering his conclusion with opinion is enough.  It isn’t.

 What makes the double “that” effective is its sound, a sound which begins softly but ends with a “t” which, when repeated, becomes staccato, a cracking, like the rat-a-tat of fired bullets.  Death comes not on muffled tiptoes.  Yes,  that…That will end the game.

 Might an explanation of the onomatopoetic use of “that” have been of greater help to the reader than to be told the repetition shows “control” and provides “just enough jolt”?  To be fair, much of Guriel’s essay is beautifully written.  Still, I hate when a critic rests on his laurels and expects us to take his opinions at face value.   I do hate that…that….that. 

Japanese maple tree

Courtesy of orgnzri.com

Social Share

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

*
*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published four novels

  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

Subscribe to Caroline’s Blog


 

Archives

Categories

YouTube-logo-inline2 To access and subscribe to my videos on YouTube, Click Here and click the Subscribe button.

Banner art “The Receptive” by Charlie White of Charlie White Studio

Web Admin: ThinPATH Systems, Inc
support@tp-sys.com

Subscribe to Caroline's Blog


 

Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Sitemap | Privacy Notice

AUDIO & VIDEO VAULT

View archives of Caroline’s audio and videos interviews.


Copyright © Books by Caroline Miller