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  • The Elegant Variation is "Fowler’s (1926, 1965) term for the inept writer’s overstrained efforts at freshness or vividness of expression. Prose guilty of elegant variation calls attention to itself and doesn’t permit its ideas to seem naturally clear. It typically seeks fancy new words for familiar things, and it scrambles for synonyms in order to avoid at all costs repeating a word, even though repetition might be the natural, normal thing to do: The audience had a certain bovine placidity, instead of The audience was as placid as cows. Elegant variation is often the rock, and a stereotype, a cliché, or a tired metaphor the hard place between which inexperienced or foolish writers come to grief. The familiar middle ground in treating these homely topics is almost always the safest. In untrained or unrestrained hands, a thesaurus can be dangerous."
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« NY EVENT: PRINCETON AT THE VIRGINIA WOOLF CONFERENCE | Main | REASONS TO GO TO PARIS # 847* »

June 05, 2009

PERSISTENCE

Harry 

Today's mail - eight loaves of Harry's Brioche Tranchée, delivered fresh from Paris via London.

Nearly two years ago, I wrote about my love for a certain variety of French supermarket bread - Harry's brioche tranchée - and bemoaned the impossiblity of having it shipped overseas in an age when you can buy everything from prescription drugs to diapers online.  I am, however, nothing if not dogged ... or compulsive, depending on whom you ask.  Either way, they are handy traits for bloggers and novelists alike.  (Incidentally, the name of the bread has no bearing whatsoever on my protagonist - happy coincidence.)

With the arrival of my lovely daughter, I realized there'd be no Paris trip this year, and so the lack of Harry's became a matter of critical importance, and I returned for another search of the web.  My years of efforts were finally rewarded when I stumbled on to French Click, a UK concern that exists primarily to provide French supermarket treats to Francophile Brits.  For a truly exorbitant shipping fee, however, they will ship to the United States, and as of today my freezer is happily filled with eight loaves of the stuff.  I have, however, hidden the invoice from Mrs. TEV, telling her only that it's cheaper than a trip to Paris.

Of course, as with the end of all great quests, I'm now left feeling vaguely adrift - but I'm sure it won't be long before another quixotic obsession presents itself.  Until then, the Bonne Maman Sables Tout Chocolat are looking pretty good ...

(Friday giveaway will return next week.)

UPDATE: By the way, if you're a fan of things Parisian, you'll want to check out Vanina Marsot's Skylight reading this Wednesday.  Her nove, Foreign Tongue, hits so many of our favorite Paris locales ...

Posted by TEV at 02:39 PM in Personal |

Comments

James

Persistence, too!

:)

Posted by: James | June 05, 2009 at 06:47 PM

TEV

Ugh. Mortifying. I blame my daughter ... sleep addled ... the shame ...

Posted by: TEV | June 05, 2009 at 06:57 PM

LiteraryMinded

That reminds me, I must see if I can somehow get that pre-mixed sugarfree pear cider 'Paere', that I had in Norway last year...

Posted by: LiteraryMinded | June 08, 2009 at 03:23 AM

Marco Romano

Lauren Cerand sent me a copy of your novel. I'm hooked and am enjoying it very much. I'll be sure to blog about it, though my site traffic hovers in the mid-double digerati.

Posted by: Marco Romano | June 08, 2009 at 08:30 AM

lauren

I probably could have just mailed you some.

Posted by: lauren | June 09, 2009 at 01:07 AM

Madeleine Conway

Hey, take that baby to Paris tootsweet. She'll fly for a tiny proportion of the normal cost and provided she's feeding on take off and landing, there's likely to be little crying. Number one son flew to Beijing, Washington, Houston, Seoul, Rome and Madrid while under 12 months. We got the bassinette seat, so more space anyway, and he slept/billed and cooed/fed the whole flight long, even for the big 10 hour ones.

Posted by: Madeleine Conway | June 10, 2009 at 12:03 PM

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