First off, this is Spinning post number 2001. Neat eh? Or is it time to shut up?
But not before I share this, a technique I found Dorothy Parker exercised in "The Lovely Leave" that of the fuchsia plant the protagonist bought that Parker described first as "graceful magenta bells" and followed her mood subsequently naming them as "vulgar" and finally, "exquisite."
And this tonight, in "Suttree": "A wan midwinter sun hung low and oblong under the leeward fishshaped clouds. A sun hotjowled and squat in the seeping lavender dusk. Down this narrow street where the chinese sign glows green. She is waiting, cupboarded in one of the high booths."
Has McCarthy ever described even the cleanest, brightest corner of Knoxville as anything near a notch above dismal? Suddenly, because Suttree has gotten himself laid by a very nice, attractive woman, albeit prostitute, his world is described in the hopeful way that Suttree himself feels.
Either I’m an idiot making more of this than lies within the words, or McCarthy has just one-upped Parker.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology