When it comes to appreciation of writing, I'm a believer that less is more. I prefer poetry and short stories to novels, and essays and short books over long books, and I'm prone to copy down précis and favourite passages and quotes from great books and then give the books themselves away. When I find great ideas or expressions of emotion or word pictures that contain only the number of words they absolutely need and no more, I cherish them. So I got to wondering: What is the greatest single paragraph ever written?
This from Dave Pollard at How to Save the World. Dave goes on to provide some samples of what he proposes are good writing and while this is not a contest, he is soliciting suggestions. You can read the full post here.
A tough assignment should you chose to accept it. I may come up with several passages but no single one of them should be considered the greatest of all. Each of us has our own voice and the passage is a reflection of that voice, that self.
Is Shakespeare greater than Whitman? Dostoyevsky greater than Sartre?
I would not/could not make that call and that is not a cop-out.
What do you think?
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