Vocabulary from "In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried" by Amy Hempel

Adam C.
A stunning meditation on mortality, storytelling, memory and trivia, Amy Hempel's "In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried" shocks and delights at the same time. Here are 20 words from the story, from her 1985 debut collection, "Reasons to Live." Text available here
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. parable
    a short moral story
    "A parable."
  2. impersonal
    not relating to or responsive to individuals
    The impersonal article is more intimate.
  3. mortuary
    a building where bodies are kept before burial or cremation
    The best I can explain it is this—I have a friend who worked one summer in a mortuary.
  4. grisly
    shockingly repellent; inspiring horror
    The one that really got to me was not the grisliest, but it's the one that did.
  5. ravine
    a deep narrow steep-sided valley
    She laughs, and I cling to the sound the way someone dangling above a ravine holds fast to the thrown rope.
  6. jeopardy
    a source of danger
    While things that just lie there, like this beach, are loaded with jeopardy.
  7. fringe
    an ornamental border of short lengths of hanging threads
    You can sit here braiding the fringe on your towel and the sand will all of a sudden suck down like an hourglass.
  8. catastrophe
    an event resulting in great loss and misfortune
    Nerves like that are only bought off by catastrophe.
  9. epicenter
    a point on the Earth's surface directly above an earthquake
    We were in college; our dormitory was five miles from the epicenter.
  10. jabber
    talk in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner
    When the ride was over and my jabbering pulse began to slow, she served five parts champagne to one part orange juice, and joked about living in Ocean View, Kansas.
  11. deviation
    aberrant behavior
    We watched the traffic of Japanese beetles for deviation.
  12. tranquilize
    cause to be calm or quiet as by administering a sedative to
    Everyone on it is tranquilized, numb, or asleep.
  13. wrought
    shaped to fit by altering the contours of a pliable mass
    Above this aggressive health are the twin wrought-iron terraces, painted flamingo pink, of the Palm Royale.
  14. undertow
    a current that flows away from the shore after waves break
    The ocean they stare at is dangerous, and not just the undertow.
  15. scorch
    burn slightly and superficially so as to affect color
    The pillowcases in that family are all bordered with scorch.
  16. optimal
    most desirable possible under a restriction
    We lay side by side, adjustable beds cranked up for optimal TV-viewing, littering the sheets with Good Humor wrappers, picking toasted almonds out of the gauze.
  17. crepe
    a soft thin light fabric with a crinkled surface
    Every beam and sill and shelf and knob was draped in gay bunting, with streamers of pastel crepe looped around bright mirrors.
  18. swaddle
    wrap very tightly in cloth, as a baby
    In my head there are bath towels swaddling this stuff.
  19. retrospect
    contemplation of things past
    I noted these gestures as they happened, not in any retrospect—though I don't know why looking back should show us more than looking at.
  20. prompt
    according to schedule or without delay
    Imagine how her trainers must have thrilled when the mother, without prompting, began to sign to her newborn.
Created on Sun Nov 10 17:18:38 EST 2013 (updated Sun Nov 10 17:44:29 EST 2013)

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