One of the terms I’m introducing into my analysis of good writing is “brisance.” A great word (from the French) that many people don’t know. It refers to the shattering power of a high explosive, and can be further defined as an elegant, tactically well-executed form of focused violence. While I personally enjoy explosions for the color, noise and thrill—it’s important to remember that the people who use them day-to-day and who teach others how to use them properly, almost always have very practical ends in mind. The man who instructed me back in Australia was an older Italian fellow, who worked the bluestone quarry on Mt. Alexander. He was so adept at his craft, he could eyeball the exact amount of plastic explosive needed to halve a small hillside vein, or to split a single boulder the size of a coffee table. He also dug graves locally. The old drought-parched goldfields land of Central Victoria can be so hard, a gravedigger needs a little help to get things started. I like that idea—and I like the term he used for the process. He dug my former business partner’s grave, and I got to watch him work (while helping in the process). He called it “fox scratching”…planting a configuration of very small charges that would loosen sufficient ground up for a backhoe not to be fighting itself, clawing in. The term comes from the remarkable capability of female foxes (even in that terrain) to smell out a rabbit warren above round and then to dig in precise places to find the young kits they raid and then feed to their babies. Stealing baby rabbits to feed baby foxes may seem cruel, but that’s the way it is. I shot foxes that wanted my lambs and hens—but I respected them. You have to admire that a female fox the size of a small dog can do what a hydraulic backhoe struggles with. And I sort of like how my long time friend’s grave was dug in a way that involved a blast and conjures up life stealing / life saving technology of an animal kind. I now use the term “fox scratching” to refer to kinds of writing that open up holes for further investigation and debate. Well-placed small explosive charges that allow and call for proper digging.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 18:59:47 +0000
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