Monday, October 12, 2009

Awesome repetition, this

I'm reading Shimmer Chinodya's Harvest of Thorns.

The blurb reads, 'Harvest of Thorns is a novel of great significance which will give all those who read it a greater understanding of the road along which Zimbabwe has travelled, as well as indicate many of the directions ahead.'



I'm moved by the way Chinodya employs repetition: the first line of the first four paragraphs is repeated in a very creative way:

Line 1, Paragraph 1: The day he came back, ...

Line 1, Paragraph 2: And on that same morning of the day he came back ...

Line 1, Paragraph 3: The afternoon of the day he came back ...

Line 1, Paragraph 4: And on the night of the day he came back ...


Notice the way the day he came back is repeated with great effect.

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