Carol Edgarian is cofounder and editor of Narrative. Her bestselling novels include Vera, Three Stages of Amazement, and Rise the Euphrates. A new episode of her popular weekly series, A Word, Please, occurs every Monday on Instagram. Her essays and articles regularly appear in national magazines and anthologies, and she is coeditor (with Tom Jenks) of a collection drawn from great writers’ diaries, The Writer’s Life: Intimate Thoughts on Work, Love, Inspiration, and Fame.

A Word, Please

by Carol Edgarian


Words are harbingers, messengers of our time. They come into the world one way, and as the world turns, they evolve. It strikes me that this year of challenge and change makes for the perfect moment to renew our words. Agree? Then come aboard! Each week on A Word, Please, we’ll be turning a new word around—how it began, how we’re using it now. Some weeks I’ll invite guests, or I’ll read a passage from something I’m working on, or a poem or page that I think will inspire us.

VIGILANCE



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

URBANE



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

TEMPORAL



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

STEREOTYPE



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

SANGUINE



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

RIVER



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

QUIXOTIC



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

PENTIMENTO



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

POIGNANT



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

OBFUSCATE



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

NIHILISM



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

MATTER



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

LOVE



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

Marilynne Robinson's HOUSEKEEPING



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

KISMET



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

JAZZ



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

INTEGRITY



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

HARBINGER



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

GAR OO CHUGAR



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

GRIEF



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

GIORNATA



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

FERVENT



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

EMPATHY



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

A few lines from Tolstoy's ANNA KARENINA



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

DARE



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

CACOPHONY



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

BEWILDER



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

ASPIRE



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

MIRTH



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

GAME



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

CLICHE



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

ELAN



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

GRACE



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@c.edgarian)

BARDO



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@cedgarian)


Tom Jenks's reading of James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues"



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@cedgarian)

GHOSTS and GHOSTING



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@cedgarian)

VOTE



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@cedgarian)

EMOTION



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@cedgarian)

FLIRT



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@cedgarian)

PROPAGANDA



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@cedgarian)

Marguerite Duras and THE LOVER



View this post on Instagram


A post shared by Carol Edgarian (@cedgarian)

All you word lovers: please join me! Let’s look at the world one word at a time.


Follow Carol for weekly updates of A Word, Please.