In the autumn of 1999, the American literary journal Conjunctions ran a series of reproductions of pages from a pocket diary that had belonged to Isaac Bashevis Singer. In capital letters, Singer - who emigrated from Poland to America in 1935 - filled page after page with lists of words:

15 JULY: SILT, IMPINGE, OVERLAP, WIREPULLER. 24 JULY: DOCILITY, CEREBRATIONS, INSIDIOUS, AFTERMATH. 29 JULY: PARSON, METTLE, SQUIP, IMP, EKE OUT.

LRB 2 June 2005 | PDF Download