Discussion points / questions / activities
→ "Here, Steinberg mythologizes the auxiliary verbs: I AM is carved out of vertical chunks of earth, grass-topped, and, at one point, flowering; I HAVE is the dreariness of possession strung across that earth—bits of ruined building, wired together, make up all the letters but the A and V, which are bits of patched, impossible laundry hanging sadly on a sagging line between them; finally, I DO is a heavenly manifestation—flying saucers as Ezekiel wheels as fireworks, spinning whorls of color and energy in the sky above the two other phrases, the I angled somewhat and beginning to recede into the background." (John Hollander)
→ "Here, Steinberg mythologizes the auxiliary verbs: I AM is carved out of vertical chunks of earth, grass-topped, and, at one point, flowering; I HAVE is the dreariness of possession strung across that earth—bits of ruined building, wired together, make up all the letters but the A and V, which are bits of patched, impossible laundry hanging sadly on a sagging line between them; finally, I DO is a heavenly manifestation—flying saucers as Ezekiel wheels as fireworks, spinning whorls of color and energy in the sky above the two other phrases, the I angled somewhat and beginning to recede into the background." (John Hollander)
REFERENCES
Steinberg, Saul. The Inspector. New York: Viking Adult, 1973. Print.
John Hollander's review in Commentary Magazine of Steinberg's The Inspector:
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/the-inspector-by-saul-steinberg/
Steinberg, Saul. The Inspector. New York: Viking Adult, 1973. Print.
John Hollander's review in Commentary Magazine of Steinberg's The Inspector:
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/the-inspector-by-saul-steinberg/