So perhaps the correct conclusion is that Green was less attuned to how people sound when they speak - the actual words and expressions they employ - than to what they mean. This notion of dialogue as a pure expression of character that...transcends the specifics of time and place may be partly why the conversations in the works of writers such as Austen and Bronte often sound fresh and astonishingly contemporary.
Francine ProseTraditionally, the love of reading has been born and nurtured in high school English class
Francine ProseIf things are going well I can easily spend twelve hours a day writing, but not writing writing, just thinking and revising and taking a comma out and putting it back in.
Francine ProseWith so much reading ahead of you, the temptation might be to speed up. But in fact itโs essential to slow down and read every word. Because one important thing that can be learned by reading slowly is the seemingly obvious but oddly underappreciated fact that language is the medium we use in much the same way a composer uses notes, the way a painter uses paint. I realize it may seem obvious, but itโs surprising how easily we lose sight of the fact that words are the raw material out of which literature is crafted.
Francine Prose