Member Contributed Events
Wednesday, October 9, 2024
7:00 pm Eastern
Algonquin Hotel Lounge, front window area, 59 W 44th St, New York, New York
The next Authors Guild Monthly Conjunction will be Wednesday, October 9, around 7 p.m. Join your fellow writers for a meeting of literary minds at the front window area of the Algonquin Hotel Lounge. Linguistic linguini will be served. Late arrivals are welcome.
At our previous gathering on September 11, we discussed the following lively literary topic:
A basic law of physics states that when one form of energy changes to another, part of its energy is lost in the change. … So too with writing. When you describe something, your words will not be as lucidly realistic as the subject they describe, because some perceptual portion of the original subject is invariably lost in changing from “actual” to “semantic” on its page. As Keats poetically said: his Grecian Urn can “express a flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme.” But the science of writing has a trick up its sleeve that the science of physics doesn’t have: a medley of exaggerations, collectively known as figures of speech—simile, irony, synecdoche, and all the rest—by which authors can cleverly compensate for the subtracting effect of a mere description by magnifying its nature until it may seem even more exciting than the original subject. [I then gave an example.]
A basic law of physics states that when one form of energy changes to another, part of its energy is lost in the change. … So too with writing. When you describe something, your words will not be as lucidly realistic as the subject they describe, because some perceptual portion of the original subject is invariably lost in changing from “actual” to “semantic” on its page. As Keats poetically said: his Grecian Urn can “express a flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme.”
But the science of writing has a trick up its sleeve that the science of physics doesn’t have: a medley of exaggerations, collectively known as figures of speech—simile, irony, synecdoche, and all the rest—by which authors can cleverly compensate for the subtracting effect of a mere description by magnifying its nature until it may seem even more exciting than the original subject. [I then gave an example.]
This month, we will discuss a similar topic. If all goes well, we will try to do the same at future monthly conjunctions. Remember, a conjunction is a part of speech that joins together two writers.
Directions from Grand Central Station: Ascend the stairs on the west side of the Grand Concourse. When outside, look about 200 feet to your right for the 44th St sign, then walk 1.5 blocks west to the Algonquin Hotel marquee on the right. When you arrive, look for your host, Robert Brown B utler, a grayhaired gentleman wearing a Butterfly Bowtie.
This classy place has hosted literary notables going back to 1919. Its walls are graced with memorabilia, and this alone is reason to visit here. Imagine having a nice dinner in a small museum: That’s what this place is like.
