In Poul Anderson's "The Sorrow Of Odin The Goth":
"Salvalindis noticed." (Time Patrol, p. 350)
"Few escaped." (p. 392)
"Drums thuttered." (p. 393)
"Dagobert staggered." (ibid.)
"Heorot rejoiced." (p. 405)
"I did." (p. 424)
"I wondered." (p. 425)
"Blood spurted." (p. 428)
"'For Swanhild.'" (p. 438)
"Sunset smoldered." (p. 444)
"Night fell." (p. 445)
"'I failed.'" (p. 449)
"Someone appeared." (p. 454)
"I paused." (p. 463)
"Wind whimpered." (ibid.)
Some of these sentences are clearly dramatic even when quoted out of their contexts. Equally clearly, their full significance depends on reading them in those contexts. "Someone appeared" is the crux of the entire narrative.
10 comments:
I read a news article years ago that made a (to my mind, anyway) splendidly dramatic use of ONE word treated as a sentence (it was ungrammatical, but it worked so well that I wasn't inclined to protest).
The article talked about a cat in a hospice for the elderly, who'd prowl in and out of the rooms but never settle down beside anyone.
"Until."
The caregivers had noticed that whenever the cat settled beside a patient, they should call the next of kin, because this person almost always had less than four hours to live.
David,
There is also the "Laconic reply." The commander of an army besieging the city of Lacon sent a message into the city listing the atrocities that his men would commit if they captured the city. The city fathers replied, "If."
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
An interesting story. Is it to be found in the histories of Herodotus or Thucydides?
Sean
Sean,
Now that I don't know. I heard it quoted on TV!
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Darn! I looked up the words "Lacon," "laconic," but the definition I saw made no mention of the story you cited. That definition said "Laconic" goes back to the reputation of the Spartans being a people who spoke briefly and to the point.
Sean
Sean,
Yes, I am puzzled here. But I trust Stephen Fry whom I heard on TV.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Understood! Perhaps the Oxford Dictionary will have a more complete history of the etymology of "laconic."
Sean
"Laconic" indeed comes from Laconia, the Spartans' land. And if Wikipedia is correct, the "If" anecdote can be found in Plutarch, and they said it in answer to Philip II of Macedon, Alexander the Great's father.
So my error was in thinking that there was a city of Lacon.
Hi, David!
So this story came from Plutarch. Thanks!
Sean
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