I adore Carson’s Short Talks. To me, they seem like such
simple ruminations that she merely jotted down separately in a journal. Juxtaposed,
they work wonderfully. The way in which she writes does not sound overly-edited
or forced. The style is simple, yet powerful. Even just a line like, “Someone
has put cries of birds on the air like jewels”—it’s so delicately worded but
not too intricate. Much of her writing lilts with whimsy and ponderings that
are very unassuming but really hold your attention.
I’ve read through each piece of Short Talks several times
now and I can still hear certain lines echoing in my head. This work definitely
stuck with me and has inspired me to do something in a similar vein.
i agree with what you said about her works feeling unedited, and i think it adds the the pure expression of the pieces in short talk, i think there is something to be said about leaving certain pieces alone and not changing them. throughout carson's whimsey i feel like we see the joy in the things she is trying to portray and i think much of the feeling of those pieces would be lost if she edited them further
ReplyDeleteI like how you compared the pieces in "Short Talks" to random journal entries. They do almost read like beautiful, fleeting thoughts that popped into Carson's mind at different times and just happened to work well together when put side-by-side. I can almost imagine her hurrying to capture each piece in a notebook before they escaped her mind.
ReplyDelete