#lit – @nickkahler on Tumblr

I remember that winter because it had brought the heaviest snow I had ever seen. Snow had fallen steadily all night long and in the morning I woke in a room filled with light and silence, the whole world seemed to be held in a dream-like stillness. It was a magical day... and it was on that day I made the Snowman.

Raymond Briggs, The Snowman, 1978

#raymond briggs #the snowman #quote #lit #literature #story #winter #snow #night #morning #room #white #silence #light #world #dream #magic #day #play #childhood #memory

nickkahler

Dave Eggers vs. Thomas Pynchon, “Cover Art for Thrice’s Vheissu,” 2005

#dave eggers #graphic design #punk #emo #art #cover #thrice #vheissu #post-hardcore #rock #squid #empire #eye #all seeing eye #whale #thomas pynchon #lit #literature #design #anatomy

nickkahler

The window looked out on a brick wall and down into an alley full of New York air, the kind fit for cats and garbage.

Flannery O’Connor, “Judgement Day,” 1965

#flannery o'connor #quote #lit #literature #window #brick #wall #down #alley #full #new york #air #cat #cats #garbage #new york city #city #apartment

nickkahler

Parker sped on, then stopped. His heart appeared to cut off; there was absolute silence. It said as plainly as if silence were a language itself, GO BACK. Parker returned to the picture – the haloed head of a flat stern Byzantine Christ with all-demanding eyes. He sat there trembling; his heart began slowly to beat again as if it were being brought to life by a subtle power.

Flannery O’Connor, “Parker’s Back,” 1965

#parker #quote #flannery o'connor #lit #literature #heart #silence #language #picture #byzantine #byzantine christ #christ #jesus #religion #demand #halo #flat #stern #tremble #power #life #subtle

nickkahler

Parker had never before felt the least motion of wonder in himself. Until he saw the man at the fair, it did not enter his head that there was anything out of the ordinary about the fact that he existed. Even then it did not enter his head, but a peculiar unease settled in him. It was as if a blind boy had been turned so gently in a different direction that he did not know his destination had been changed.

Flannery O’Connor, “Parker’s Back,” 1965

#parker #back #tattoo #flannery o'connor #quote #lit #literature #motion #wonder #feeling #man #fair #ordinary #existence #head #concept #extraordinary #settle #peculiar #blind #boy #gentle #direction #destination

nickkahler

The book struck her directly over her left eye. It struck almost at the same instant that she realized the girl was about to hurl it. Before she could utter a sound, the raw face came crashing across the table toward her, howling. The girl’s fingers sank like clamps into the soft flesh of her neck. She heard the mother cry out and Claud shout, 'Whoa!' There was an instant when she was certain that she was about to be in an earthquake. All at once her vision narrowed and she saw everything as if it were happening in a small room far away, or as if she were looking at it through the wrong end of a telescope.

Flannery O’Connor, “Revelation,” 1965

nickkahler

All my stories are about the action of grace on a character who is not very willing to support it, but most people think of these stories as hard, hopeless and brutal.

Flannery O’Connor, “On Writing,” c. 1960

#flannery o'connor #quote #story #grotesque #writing #action #grace #character #willing #support #people #hard #brutal #hope #hopeless #god #religion #lit #literature

nickkahler

The light was on in Norton’s room but the bed was empty. He turned and dashed up the attic stairs and at the top reeled back like a man on the edge of a pit. The tripod had fallen and the telescope lay on the floor. A few feet over it, the child hung in the jungle of shadows, just below the beam from which he had launched his flight into space.

Flannery O’Connor, “The Lame Shall Enter First,” 1965

#flannery o'connor #quote #lit #literature #the lame shall enter first #norton #sheppard #light #bed #empty #attic #edge #pit #man #tripod #telescope #floor #child #jungle #death #shadow #beam #launch #flight #space #horror

nickkahler

The boy raised the Bible and tore out a page with his teeth and began grinding it in his mouth, his eyes burning. ... The boy rose and picked up the Bible and started toward the hall with it. At the door he paused, a small black figure on the threshold of some dark apocalypse. 'The devil has you in his power,' he said in a jubilant voice and disappeared.

Flannery O’Connor, “The Lame Shall Enter First,” 1965

nickkahler

The boy’s eyes were like distorting mirrors in which he saw himself made hideous and grotesque.

Flannery O’Connor, “The Lame Shall Enter First,” 1965

#flannery o'connor #quote #lit #literature #the lame shall enter first #boy #eye #mirror #distortion #grotesque #hideous

nickkahler

All at once his eyes became alert. Without warning the rain had stopped. The silence was heavy as if the downpour had been hushed by violence. He remained motionless, only his eyes turning. Into the silence came the distinct click of a key turning in the front door lock. The sound was a very deliberate one. It drew attention to itself and held it as if it were controlled more by a mind than by a hand.

Flannery O’Connor, “The Lame Shall Enter First,” 1965

nickkahler

A kind of fanatic intelligence was palpable in his face.

Flannery O’Connor, “The Lame Shall Enter First,” 1965

#flannery o'connor #quote #lit #literature #the lame shall enter first #kind #fanatic #intelligence #palpable #countenance #face

nickkahler

The girl’s face seemed to mirror the nakedness of the sky. In despair he leaned closer until he was stopped by a miniature visage which rose incorrigibly in her spectacles and fixed him where he was. Round, innocent, undistinguished as an iron link, it was the face whose gift of life had pushed straight forward to the future to raise festival after festival. Like a master salesman, it seemed to have been waiting there from all time to claim him.

Flannery O’Connor, “The Partridge Festival,” 1961

nickkahler

The two sat together as if they were waiting for some momentous event in their lives—a marriage or instantaneous deaths. They seemed already joined in a predestined convergence. At the same instant each made an involuntary motion as if to run but it was too late.

Flannery O’Connor, “The Partridge Festival,” 1961

#flannery o'connor #quote #lit #literature #momentous #the partridge festival #death #marriage #instantaneous #predestination #convergence #converge #involuntary #motion

nickkahler

You might find your theories enriched by the sight of him. And I don’t mean by finding out the color of his eyes. I mean your existential encounter with his personality. The mystery of personality ... is what interests the artist. Life does not abide in abstractions.

Flannery O’Connor, “The Partridge Festival,” 1961

nickkahler

'What is your opinion of Singleton?' he asked abruptly. She raised her head and appeared to look through him. 'A Christ-figure,' she said. The boy was stunned. 'I mean as myth,' she said scowling. 'I’m not a Christian.' ... 'I’m here only because of my sympathy for Singleton. I’m going to write about him. Possibly a novel.' 'I intend to write a non-fiction study,' the girl said in a tone that made it evident fiction was beneath her.

Flannery O’Connor, “The Partridge Festival,” 1961

#flannery o'connor #the partridge festivale #lit #literature #quote #dialogue #christ #singleton #opinion #figure #character #myth #christian #novel #non-fiction #study #tone

nickkahler

She took the hand and, breathing hard, pulled heavily up on it and then stood for a moment, swaying slightly as if the spots of light in the darkness were circling around her. Her eyes, shadowed and confused, finally settled on his face. ... She continued to plow ahead, paying no attention to him. Her hair had come undone on one side. She dropped her pocketbook and took no notice. He stooped and picked it up and handed it to her but she did not take it. ... She continued to go on as if she had not heard him. He took a few steps and caught her arm and stopped her. He looked into her face and caught his breath. He was looking into a face he had never seen before. ... Crumpling, she fell to the pavement. He dashed forward and fell at her side, crying, “Mamma, Mamma!” He turned her over. Her face was fiercely distorted. One eye, large and staring, moved slightly to the left as if it had become unmoored. The other remained fixed on him, raked his face again, found nothing and closed.

Flannery O’Connor, “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” 1965