Delicious Words

In this Lit Circle post, I will be playing a little bit of each of these roles, Narratologist, Musician, New Critic, maybe one more than the other (musician mostly).
The first few paragraphs that start off Bel and the Serpent was some of the best writing I have ever seen. I felt like I was in the room witnessing the tension and mood in the damp air with both the American and the Belgian. Kingsolver painted a work of art, not just a picture. Making a movie out of these lines would be simple. Here is the passage:

"While they talk of labor and foreign currency their hunger moves apart from the gentlemanly conversation with a will of its own, licking at the edges of the map on the table, dividing it between them. They take turns leaning forward to point out their moves with shrews congeniality, playing it like a chess match, the kind of game that allows civilized men to play at make-believe murder. Between moves they tip their heads back, swirl blood-colored brandy in glass globes and wacth it crawl down the curved glass in liquid veins. Languidly they bring their map to order. Who will be the kings, the rooks, the bishops rising up to strike at a distance? Which sacrificial pawns will be swept aside? African names roll apart like the heads of dried flowers crushed idly between thumb and forefinger-Ngoma, Mukenge, Mulele, Kasavubu, Lumumba. They crumble to dust on the carpet."

The language in bold is pleasing to the ear since it is almost instantanious that you read the text and get the most detailed scene imprinted into your mind. It was such a smooth and detailed transition from eyes to mind, that it complemented the scene at hand. You could focus in and feel the tension in the heavy air, taste the wine they drank (then again I don't know what alcohol is), and worry for those Africans that they would crush to dust. It was such a tense scene because of the stakes at hand. I got the impression of two world leaders that played chess carelessly with their own puppets and countrymen. Kingsolvers words I didn't have to think about, it just happened. This is a key for many things. Sports for example, you don't what to think, just make it happen.