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Prose Quotes

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Prose Quotes

“Nobody brings ancient history and archaeology to life like Adrienne Mayor. From the Russian steppes to China, and from Roman Egypt and Arabia to the Etruscans, she leads the reader on a breathtaking quest for the real ancient warrior women reflected in myths--their daring, archery, tattoos, fine horses, and independence from male control. The book's rich erudition, communicated in sparkling prose and beautiful illustrations, makes it a riveting read.”

BookRealBeautifulRichFineReaderHorseIndependenceMalesAncientChinaMythWarriorProseDaringQuestsTattooEgyptMayorsArabiaIllustrationSparklingArchaeologyBreathtakingArcheryAncient HistoryErudition
Author:Edith Hall
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“The word 'creative' refers simply to the use of literary craft in presenting nonfiction—that is, factually accurate prose about real people and events—in a compelling, vivid manner. To put it another way, creative nonfiction writers do not make things up; they make ideas and information that already exist more interesting and, often, more accessible.”

PeopleWayIdeasRealUseInterestingCreativeEventsInformationCraftsProseNonfictionAccurateCompellingVividAnother WayPresentingCreative Nonfiction
Author:Lee Gutkind
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“In Madame Bovary Flaubert never allows anything to go on too long; he can suggest years of boredom in a paragraph, capture the essence of a character in a single conversational exchange, or show us the gulf between his soulful heroine and her dull-witted husband in a sentence (and one that, moreover, presages all Emma's later experience of men). (...) This is one of the summits of prose art, and not to know such a masterpiece is to live a diminished life.”

KnowsMenYearsLongArtCharacterShowsGoes OnHusbandEssenceSentencesBoredomDullProseCaptureMasterpieceSummitParagraphHeroinesEmmaSoulful
Author:Michael Dirda
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“An up-close portrait of middle-class Nigeria exploring the boundaries of morals and public decorum. Pitched between humor and despair, with stripped-down, evocative prose, A Bit of Difference bristles with penknife-sharp dialogue, but its truths are more subtle, hiding in the unspoken. Ultimately, A Bit of Difference explores – with a hint of mischief–the problem of how to look like you have no problems when you have abundant problems–the universal problem of the socially-motivated classes.”

LooksProblemBitsDifferencesMoralClassMiddleLike YouDespairUniversalBoundariesDialogueProseSubtleMiddle ClassHidingMotivatedExploringPortraitsNo ProblemHintsMischiefNigeriaUnspokenDecorum
Author:Nii Parkes
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“Inexperienced fiction and creative nonfiction writers are often told to show, not tell - to write scenes, dramatize, cut exposition, cut summary - but it can be misguided advice. Good prose almost always requires both showing and telling, scenes and summary, the two basic components of creative prose”

WritingTwoShowsFictionCreativeCuttingAdviceSceneProseNonfictionComponentsMisguidedSummaryCreative Nonfiction
Book:Showing & Telling: Learn How to Show & When to Tell for Powerful & Balanced Writing
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“Clyde Phillip Wachsberger's delightful memoir about tending beds of flowers as compensation for a lonely middle age only to find unexpected romance along the way is a sweet reminder that, as he puts it, 'anything can happen in a garden.' In prose that balances candor with perfect courtesy, he charms us with the message that keeping a garden with a beloved companion, this most ephemeral of all the arts, can bring us the most enduring joys and pleasures.”

WayArtHappensAgeRomanceJoyPerfectPleasureMiddleSweetFlowerBalanceBedMessagesGardenLonelyEndureMemoirBelovedCharmProseUnexpectedCompanionDelightfulRemindersCourtesyMiddle AgesCompensationEphemeralCandorAnything Can Happen
Author:Philip Gambone
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“Edwidge Danticat's prose has a Chekhovian simplicity--an ability to state the most urgent truths in a measured and patiently plain style that gathers a luminous energy as it moves inexorably forward. In this book she makes a strong case that art, for immigrants from countries where human rights and even survival are often in jeopardy, must be a vocation to witness if it is not to be an idle luxury.”

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Author:Madison Smartt Bell
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“MORE CONSISTENTLY THAN EVER I WAS TRYING TO MAKE PEOPLE BELIEVE THAT CINEMA AS AN INSTRUMENT OF ART HAS ITS OWN POSSIBILITIES WHICH ARE EQUAL TO THOSE OF PROSE. I WANTED TO DEMONSTRATE HOW CINEMA IS ABLE TO OBSERVE LIFE, WITHOUT INTERFERING, CRUDELY OR OBVIOUSLY, WITH ITS CONTINUITY. FOR THAT IS WHERE I SEE THE POETIC ESSENCE OF CINEMA.”

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Author:Andrei Tarkovsky
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“I love that moment in writing when language falls short. There is something more there. A larger body. Even by the failure of words I begin to detect its dimensions. As I work the prose, shift the verbs, look for new adjectives, a different rhythm, syntax, something new begins to come to the surface.”

WritingLooksDifferentMomentsBodyFallLanguageSurfaceRhythmProseDimensionsSomething NewThat MomentVerbsAdjectivesSyntax
Book:The Eros of Everyday Life: Essays on Ecology, Gender and Society
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