Sunday

Understatement

I am reading Quicksilver, by Neal Stephenson, for a marginal commentary, and I have to share what is perhaps the funniest example of typical English understatement in the work (p. 464).

It comes at the end of a series of strange adventures and mishaps that befall one of the protagonists, a ne'er-do-well by the name of Jack Shaftoe, and no summary can do them justice: you will have to read the chapter (pp. 450-64) for yourself.

The passage goes:
"We've missed you Jack," [Eliza] said, "where've you been?"
"Running an errand—meeting some locals—partaking of their rich traditions," Jack said. "Can we get out of Germany now, please?"

4 comments:

  1. I loved this book! I read it a few summers ago, and meant to continue on to the next one, but got too busy. I really want to continue the series because this first book was so much fun.

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    1. It's been an enjoyable read thus far!

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  2. You might like an example of understatement from here:

    "It is, by the way, very difficult to perform vasectomies on mosquitoes."

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    1. From a literary perspective, the chief virtue, I think, of the line you quote is that it is easy to 'get' without having to read the whole of what has gone before.

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