KONSTANTIN PAUSTOVSKY
each time; I work until I get to the point where, de'Pite the most
ferocious scrutiny, I can't find a speck of mud in the manuscript.
"But that's by no means the end of it. There's more to come.
When the garbage has been thrown out, I check all the images,
similes, and metaphors for freshness and accuracy.
If
there's no
accurate simile, I'd rather go without one. Let a noun live by itself,
in
its simplicity.
"A simile must
be
as precise as a sliderule and as natural as
the smell of dill. Oh yes, I was forgetting: before removing the ,
verbal rubbish, I break the text up into easy sentences. Use as
many periods as possible! I would like to see that rule become a
state law for writers! Each sentence is one thought, one image,
and no more. So don't be afraid of periods. Perhaps my sentences
are too short. This may be partIy due to my chronic asthma. I
can't talk long-windedly; I'm short of breath. The longer the
sentences, the harder it is for me to breathe.... I think that a
noun needs only one adjective and it must be very carefully chosen.
Only a genius can afford to use two adjectives.
"The paragraphs and punctuation must be used correctly,
not because of some dead scholastic rules, but so as to have the
maximum effect on the reader. Paragraphs are particularly mag–
nificent. They allow us to change the rhythm with ease and, often,
like flashes of lightning, they illuminate some particular sight in a
quite unexpected aspect. There are good writers who are careless
about their punctuation and their paragraphs. So, despite the ex–
cellence of their prose, it is obscured by haste and carelessness." ...
"Yes,"
I said, "it really is like hard labor.
It
makes you think
twenty times before becoming a writer."
"But the main thing," Babel said, "is not to allow this hard
labor to deaden the text. Otherwise it's all for nothing, and will
tum into God knows what."
(Translated
by
Andrew R. MacAndrew)
