John, I would say your two examples offer different functions. "If in this exchange I write, that while in the Brasilian rain forest of the Amazon, I saw butterflies whose coloration and form of distribution of the colors was so spectacular that I suspect its overwhelming visual presentation actually operates as a defense, you may easily understand. If I simply say There are species of butterfly that so dazzle us with riotious flash of form and color so as to tranfixed while something moves deep within us." From a strictly lit crit pov I would say the first statement is mainly concerned with the butterflies, while the second primarily functions to draw attention to the speaker of the sentence. It also prods the reader to imagine the stated experience, and in doing so attempt to create one for him/herself, which may or may not have anything in common with the experience that engendered it.  In this sense it is much more of a formal gesture and closer to process language and parts of the Milton model (ie utilizing transderivational search) than the prior.  Witt seems to me -- and I admit a limited experience with his writing -- to shift between both strategies, perhaps unintentionally, without warning.  And because of this, he's, ironically, more successful at provoking than positing, though his intention may have been the latter.  I am presupposing a lot by saying that this quality is unconscious (and even that there is a quality), but that's how I tend to read him, which may be due to my misunderstanding more than anything. Thanks for your comments. best, John