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"Well out of the city, out where the first of a crop of white windmills, lazily turning, wound sky down to desert, Driver sailed without warning onto an exit ramp and into a one-eighty." [Drive, James Sallis]

In the sentence above, is the bolded phrase talking about the turning direction of the windmills, or about something different?

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This is a case of literary interpretation and suited for writersSE. – Kris Feb 19 '12 at 13:29
Ilhan, please add a reference and quote correctly when quoting from a book. – jwpat7 Feb 19 '12 at 14:45

closed as off topic by Kris, simchona♦, FumbleFingers, kiamlaluno, Mitch Feb 24 '12 at 14:57

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1 Answer

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Yes, it's a vivid phrase for the windmill sails turning in the sky, like somebody winding a thread (or a hose) onto a reel; they must be pulling the sky down to the desert because they are the only two things in sight.

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Would your answer be any different if the case were to belong in another language? – Kris Feb 19 '12 at 14:50
+1 because this gets at the sense of what is going on in the description. But note that the passage mentions at least four things that are in view. – Robusto Feb 19 '12 at 15:37
@Kris: please clarify. English uses cases sometimes but not here: translating the passage into another language shouldn't alter the meaning. – TimLymington Feb 19 '12 at 19:03

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