"His thoughts, anticipating themselves hopelessly, stuttered in the starting blocks, and brought his feeling of fluency dangerously close to silence."
— Edward St. Aubyn (b. 1960)
Author
Work Title
Date
1992
Metaphor
"His thoughts, anticipating themselves hopelessly, stuttered in the starting blocks, and brought his feeling of fluency dangerously close to silence."
Metaphor in Context
Patrick was momentarily lost again in the contemplation of his psychological state. He felt lucid, but not about anything, except his own lucidity. His thoughts, anticipating themselves hopelessly, stuttered in the starting blocks, and brought his feeling of fluency dangerously close to silence. 'But you haven't told me,' he said, tearing himself away from this intriguing mental stammer and at the same time taking his revenge on Anne for asking him about Debbie, 'how is Victor?'
(p. 164)
(p. 164)
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Quotations drawn from Edward St. Aubyn, The Patrick Melrose Novels: Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope, and Mother's Milk (New York: Picador, 2012).
Date of Entry
09/26/2015
