Comments on: The indelible image

By: Saheli

Saheli — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:41:16 +0000

Seriously. Why, oh why, did I think it was a good idea to read American Psycho?

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:02:21 +0000

There’s another possible thread here: indelible images you wish you could forget. I have two each from The Road by Cormac McCarthy and Beloved by Toni Morrison.

By: Amy

Amy — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:19:08 +0000

from Gone With the Wind, the scene where Rhett cries into Melanie’s lap while Scarlett is unconscious, recovering after falling down the stairs and her resulting miscarriage. Something about this incrdibly masculine, dark, 1850s man breaking down into a tiny woman’s skirts.…for me its unforgettable (and not that it needs pointing out, but the scene is so much more fulfilling and true in writing than in the movie).

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:13:38 +0000

For me there are two from LOTR:
1. Faramir’s dream, where he’s standing on a precipice and a great green wave is about to overtake him and
2. Faramir and Eowyn, standing together by the white tower, when the eagle delivers the news that Sauron has been defeated: “Sing now ye people of Arnor”

From Jonathan Strange and Dr. Norrell, I remember Strange stepping through the mirror, and little else.

I haven’t read Plot Against America yet but there was another book by Roth — I can’t even remember what it was called now! — where the protagonist visits his daughter and she has become an adherent to some horrifying cult where she’s not allowed to eat.

I could go on and on. I’ll stop now unless I think of a really good one.

–Jennifer

By: jon_hansen

jon_hansen — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:22:17 +0000

In “2666,” there’s a description of Archimboldi that likens him to brown seaweed. Out of all the wonderful and disturbing images in that book, that one sticks with me most. I picture this pale man with kelp-like arms…

By: Zack

Zack — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:12:23 +0000

Orwell’s Burmese Days: All I can think about, when I think about that book (which I’ve read twice!) is the nasty birthmark on Flory’s face. Of course, that may be more because it was so instrumental to who he was as a character. I can certainly remember most of the plot, but whenever I am reminded or think of it, the mark is the starting point.

By: John Pavlus

John Pavlus — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:56:27 +0000

“He always shot up by TV light.” Indelible image AND first line, in RE Howard Hughes, from American Tabloid by James Ellroy. Holy goodchrist, what an awesome read.

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:55:39 +0000

The first image to spring to mind comes from Charles Dickens' _Great Expectations_. Wemmick (a minor character) and Pip (the protagonist) set off together on a stroll. Their rum and milks digested, the two characters walk along, Wemmick dressed nicely while carrying a fishing rod. They 'happen' upon a church ("Halloa! Here's a Church!"), pull out some nice gloves, find Miss Skiffins, and Wemmick says: "Let's have a wedding." I love that picture of Wemmick, Pip, Miss Skiffins, the fishing rod, the gloves, the church and the impromptu wedding. I've always felt it was such a lovely and funny scene, indelible even.

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:30:26 +0000

Ooh. Jonathan Strange is full of those great images, as is Tolkien. For my money, Tom Bombadil’s frolicing wonderland in the wilderness stands out, as do those Ents ripping apart Saruman’s tower. In both cases, the images gain power from the ideas they represent: Bombadil’s simple, powerful, natural home as a place out of time or history; the Ents tearing through stone as a speeding up of the natural order wherein the living tree slowly cracks even the hardest rock—it’s positively Lyellian/Darwinian.

By: Saheli

Saheli — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:18:12 +0000

I'm not sure if this fits, but In The Skin of A Lion is full of them. I remember 80% of the plot, because so many of the scenes are burned, cinematically, onto my forehead. The nun's falling, the package exploding, the frogs against the glass, the skating immigrants in the dark of the woods. The amazing thing is, the lyricism of the words--the interior monologues, especially--is right there with them: soft ghostly audio and elegant typeface combined, that sense of whispering thoughts to yourself in bed. Yep, still the best novel I've read since college. Ender and his Spanish enemy fighting in the shower. Billy Pilgrim's wife driving to see him at the hospital, her muffler broken. The Butler roaring into the telephone's mouthpiece, "The master's body? I'm sorry, madame, we cannot furnish it. It's too hot to touch!" The microserfs sliding flat food under the door. Dianora diving into the water. There are a few . . Also, the image of Death sitting in a ceremonial ruff, and Hans tiptoeing past him in black, from Magic Mountain. That's still there.