by
Katie Roiphe
gestalt
(en)
form or shape
48
she was kind of wonderful-looking, with her fabulous, disheveled gestalt
notable
7 years, 3 months ago
she was kind of wonderful-looking, with her fabulous, disheveled gestalt
notable
7 years, 3 months ago
odalisque
(en)
(noun) a female slave / (noun) a concubine in a harem
50
the irresistible odalisques sprawled across his dorm bed
confirm
7 years, 3 months ago
the irresistible odalisques sprawled across his dorm bed
confirm
7 years, 3 months ago
vituperation
(en)
(noun) sustained and bitter railing and condemnation; vituperative utterance / (noun) an act or instance of vituperating
63
there is punitive, vituperative quality in the published reviews
confirm
7 years, 3 months ago
there is punitive, vituperative quality in the published reviews
confirm
7 years, 3 months ago
prurient
(en)
(adj) having or encouraging an excessive interest in sexual matters
81
a culture more enamored of prurient gossip than of literature itself
on biographies of great writers
notable
7 years, 3 months ago
a culture more enamored of prurient gossip than of literature itself
on biographies of great writers
notable
7 years, 3 months ago
lacuna
(en)
an unfilled space; a gap (plural: lacunae)
102
for memoirs, they still leave holes, pockets of deliberate vagueness, writerly lacunae
on Joan Didion's memoirs (Year, Blue Nights)
notable
7 years, 3 months ago
for memoirs, they still leave holes, pockets of deliberate vagueness, writerly lacunae
on Joan Didion's memoirs (Year, Blue Nights)
notable
7 years, 3 months ago
brio
(en)
(noun) brilliance, panache, quality of being active or spirited or alive and vigorous
106
Joan Didion, for all her stylistic brio, becomes straightforward
notable
7 years, 3 months ago
Joan Didion, for all her stylistic brio, becomes straightforward
notable
7 years, 3 months ago
elision
(en)
(linguistics) the omission of a sound or syllable when speaking OR the act or an instance of omitting something
106
portentous
(en)
(adjective) of, relating to, or constituting a portent / (adjective) eliciting amazement or wonder; prodigious / (adjective) being a grave or serious matter / (adjective) self-consciously solemn or important; pompous / (adjective) ponderously excessive
108
She did clipped irony and she did sentences swelling with portent.
notable
7 years, 3 months ago
She did clipped irony and she did sentences swelling with portent.
notable
7 years, 3 months ago
cormorant
(en)
(noun) a gluttonous, greedy, or rapacious person OR a type of bird
133
sheer verbal power, the cormorant-like ingestion of experience
a New Republic critique of Updike
uncertain
7 years, 3 months ago
sheer verbal power, the cormorant-like ingestion of experience
a New Republic critique of Updike
uncertain
7 years, 3 months ago
frisson
(en)
(noun) a brief moment of emotional excitement; shudder thrill
146
one can't help but experience a puritanical frisson
on Mad Men
confirm
7 years, 3 months ago
one can't help but experience a puritanical frisson
on Mad Men
confirm
7 years, 3 months ago