It is my feeling that a story is not finished until it is read, and that the reader finishes it through his or her life experience, prejudices, worldview and thoughts.
Annie ProulxRead
Their silence comfortable. Something unfolding. But what? Not love, which wrenched and wounded. Not love, which came only once.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the complexities of silence in relationships, hinting that it does not signify love but rather something more ambiguous.
Annie Proulx's quote speaks to the deep, often unnameable emotions that can exist in the absence of love or passion. It suggests that while there may be a comfortable silence between people, it is not necessarily a sign of love, but rather an indication of a different kind of connection or emotion that may be unfolding, possibly entwined with past pain and experiences of lost love.
Themes
SilenceLoveRelationshipsEmotionConnection
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the nuances of relationships, this quote can illustrate the complexity of emotions beyond just love.
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You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences and the creation of different words on a page. Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.
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I think it's important to leave spaces in a story for readers to fill in from their own experience.
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If a piece of knotted string can unleash the wind, and if a drowned man can awaken, then I believe a broken man can heal.
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But the only rhyme he could summon for 'out' was 'sauerkraut,' which lacked poetic glory. He let it go. The right line would come in time. That was the thing about poetry. It crept up through the draws and coulees of the brain.
Annie ProulxRead
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