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February 7, 2013
TT: On the nose
Rick Brookhiser reminded me last night to strike the Jane Chord of Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington:
The Jane Chord, to which Bill Buckley introduced us years ago, is a concept originally promulgated by Hugh Kenner. The idea is that if you make a two-word sentence out of the first and last words of a book, it will tell you something revealing about the book in question. Or not: the Jane Chord of Pride and Prejudice is It/them. But every once in a while you run across a Jane Chord so resonant that it makes the room shiver--the chord for Death Comes for the Archbishop is One/built--and even when a famous book yields up nonsense, it's still a good game to play....
I rejoice to report that the Jane Chord of Duke is, believe it or not, He/true. Success is inevitable!
Posted February 7, 2013 12:00 AM
