SLOW LEARNER

[RMoodyCom at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/24/1996 7:27:49 PM, you wrote:

<< [Incidentally, the thesaurus advice is "process" advice, and thus
> inapplicable.  People write differently.  Granted, he describes that
> process in a manner that sounds superficial, but I can certainly
> conceive of a novel whose basic concept would require vocabulary, in the
> mouth of a character or of a narrator, which would force the author to
> use a thesaurus in just this way.  Also, judicious use of a thesaurus in
> general is beyond condemnation - why must every word come to mind
> naturally, rather than evoke a natural reaction (that's the word!) when
> encountered via the useful tool of a thesaurus?]>>

I found the thesaurus advice really standard-issue, especially after he has
made the very funny observation about the word "tendrils" in "Low-lands" and
"Entropy." I found that he was right on about this--the word comes up way too
much. Usually the thesaurus is the right place to go for such tics. E.g., you
can avoid "tendrils" if you know what it means and what the alternatives are.
I think almost all demurrals about the thesaurus are self-aggrandizement,
like Bloom's anxiety of influence. D. Barthelme, for example, famously
admitted the use thereof, whereas your younger writers always claim the
opposite (Nick Baker in U. AND I, for example).