by
Zadie Smith
antic
(en)
(adjective) grotesque bizarre / characterized by clownish extravagance or absurdity / whimsically gay; frolicsome
46
antic, decentered, many-voiced, perverse
describing Barthes' theory of the text. never seen it used as an adjective before
strange
6 years, 11 months ago
antic, decentered, many-voiced, perverse
describing Barthes' theory of the text. never seen it used as an adjective before
strange
6 years, 11 months ago
tendentious
(en)
(adjective) marked by a tendency in favor of a particular point of view; biased
46
criticism's tendentious politics
strange
6 years, 11 months ago
criticism's tendentious politics
strange
6 years, 11 months ago
bricolage
(en)
(noun) construction (as of a sculpture or a structure of ideas) achieved by using whatever comes to hand / (noun) something constructed in this way
46
To Nabokov, an author was more than a bricolage artiste, more than a recombiner of older materials.
uncertain
6 years, 11 months ago
To Nabokov, an author was more than a bricolage artiste, more than a recombiner of older materials.
uncertain
6 years, 11 months ago
prepotent
(en)
(adjective) having exceptional power, authority, or influence / (adjective) exceeding others in power
48
Barthes' portrait of the prepotent reader
uncertain
6 years, 11 months ago
Barthes' portrait of the prepotent reader
uncertain
6 years, 11 months ago
multivalent
(en)
(adj) having or susceptible to many applications, interpretations, meanings, or values
51
For he felt his own work to be multiplex but not truly multivalent--the buck stopped at Nabokov, the man who had placed the details there in the first place.
notable
6 years, 11 months ago
For he felt his own work to be multiplex but not truly multivalent--the buck stopped at Nabokov, the man who had placed the details there in the first place.
notable
6 years, 11 months ago
mimeograph
(en)
(noun) a duplicator for making many copies that utilizes a stencil through which ink is pressed
53
what amounts to a reader's mimeograph of the Author's creative act
notable
6 years, 11 months ago
what amounts to a reader's mimeograph of the Author's creative act
notable
6 years, 11 months ago
mise-en-abyme
(fr)
term derived from heraldry; means "placed into abyss"
54
find in those texts miniature versions of Pnin's Russian doll structure, mise-en-abymes placed by Nabokov into his novel
notable
6 years, 11 months ago
find in those texts miniature versions of Pnin's Russian doll structure, mise-en-abymes placed by Nabokov into his novel
notable
6 years, 11 months ago
hagiography
(en)
relating to the writing of the lives of saints; (derogatory) adulatory writing about another person
61
The truly hagiographic text is Gustav Janouch's Conversations with Kafka.
uncertain
6 years, 11 months ago
The truly hagiographic text is Gustav Janouch's Conversations with Kafka.
uncertain
6 years, 11 months ago
encomium
(en)
a speech or piece of writing that praises someone or something highly (plural: encomia). as the adjective encomiastic, means bestowing praise, eulogistic, laudatory
63
The prospect of living with her inspires pages of encomia on solitude
about Kafka's attitude towards his betrothed
uncertain
6 years, 11 months ago
The prospect of living with her inspires pages of encomia on solitude
about Kafka's attitude towards his betrothed
uncertain
6 years, 11 months ago
shtetl
(en)
small towns with large Jewish populations, which existed in Central and Eastern Europe before the Holocaust
68
both enamored of and horrified by an Eastern shtetl life he never knew
of Kafka
uncertain
6 years, 11 months ago
both enamored of and horrified by an Eastern shtetl life he never knew
of Kafka
uncertain
6 years, 11 months ago