Brian Dillon

An elegant work of literary criticism from the author of ESSAYISM.

Suppose a Sentence

jess

Twenty seven sentences, characteristically singled out from many of remarkable authors, and some that allows a certain retrospect and analysis beyond the tangent of the author's own interpretation, which is insightful and amusingly delightful. 

"Traditions of Air" by John Ruskin, "A Ritual Feat" by Annie Dillard, and "The Cunning of Destruction" were the ones that served the apt curiosity and mostly, profound excitement, for they allow a certain self-introspect in analytic quality and tender literation in just a sentence. Others serve its justice in providing its distinctive details about authors that we may never come to notice nor assume.

Dillon clones profiles of his preferred writers, some inviting enough to pursue, others to flee from at once. Either way, the profiles are vivid, sticky and always manage to find a memorable, if difficult, phrase that opens a door to meandering thought.

María Belén

In some cases I'm lagging as a reader behind translators who have come before me, even interpreted a sentence that I cannot, remaking it; I've tried to acknowledge their writerly presence.

Goodreads recommended this to me for some reason and I decided to read it 'cause it reminded me of my favorite professor at uni. She taught literature and literary translation and was obsessed with sentence structure and just sentences in general. 
I enjoyed reading these essays 'cause, being a translator, I'm used to deconstructing and analyzing sentences. Sometimes it can take days to find the proper translation for a single sentence and that can throw off your whole work. 
My favorite essays were mostly the ones about authors I've read or translated when I was in uni, and some I just really liked the sentence the author chose to analyze. To name a few: Bronte, Eliot, Stein, Woolf (this one is great 'cause the sentence is 181 words long), Bowen, Baldwin, Brennan, Balliet, Hardwick, etc. There 27 in total I think, and they're all very good. 

I think the beauty of this book is on the throughout analysis, the attention to detail and the genuine interest with which Dillon writes about language. So, basically it's a great read if you like or are interested in or work with languages/linguistics.

For words are also things and things are apt to burst with force and loud report.

weli 

A captivating meditation on the power of the sentence by the author of Essayism, a 2018 New Yorker book of the year. In Suppose a Sentence, Brian Dillon, whom John Banville has called “a literary flâneur in the tradition of Baudelaire and Walter Benjamin,” has written a sequel of sorts to Essayism, turning his attention to the oblique and complex pleasures of the sentence. A series of essays prompted by a single sentence—from Shakespeare to James Baldwin, John Ruskin to Joan Didion—this new book explores style, voice, and language, along with the subjectivity of reading. Both an exercise in practical criticism and a set of experiments or challenges, Suppose a Sentence is a polemical and personal reflection on the art of the sentence in literature.

Suppose a Sentence

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