Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Ten of the best breakages in literature

At the Guardian, John Mullan named ten of the best breakages in literature.

One title on the list:
Atonement, by Ian McEwan

In a desire-charged tiff, Cecilia and Robbie fight over who will fill a precious vase, a family heirloom which survived being retrieved by a soldier in Flanders and brought all the way back to England. Robbie tries to take it off her. "With a sound like a dry twig snapping, a section of the lip of the vase came away in his hand ..."
Atonement also appears on Mullan's lists of ten of the best weddings in literature and ten of the best identical twins in fiction.

Read about another breakage on Mullan's list.

--Marshal Zeringue