“There is no ideal length, but you develop a little interior gauge that tells you whether or not you're supporting the house or detracting from it. When a piece gets too long, the tension goes out of it. That wordtensionhas an animal insistence for me. A piece of writing rises and falls with tension. The writer holds one end of the rope and the reader holds the other endis the rope slack, or is it tight? Does it matter to the reader what the next sentence is going to be?” WritingLittlesLongDoeEndsMatterFallNextHouseAnimalPiecesReaderIdealsSentencesTensionLengthInteriorsRopeInsistenceGaugesRise And FallDoes It Matter Author:John Jeremiah Sullivan
“Ireland starts for me with the end of The Dead, which my father read to me from his desk in his basement office in New Albany, Ind.” EndsFatherOfficeIrelandDesksBasementsAlbany Author:John Jeremiah Sullivan
