Say what? For those unfamiliar with the word (yes, that included us), it means to outline something "in clear sharp detail." And for Kakutani, it appears to be a critical part of good writing. Though perhaps in her own work, she might consider using it a tad less?

Entire lives:

• Amit Chaudhuri "limns the trajectory of an entire life in a handful of pages."
  
• Alice Munro "has created tales that limn entire lifetimes in a handful of pages."
  
• Robert Olen Butler "draws upon [the] ability to limn an entire life in a couple of pages."

Inner lives:

• Gish Jen "limns the inner lives of her heroes and heroines with authority and aplomb."
  
• Oscar Hijuelos's A Simple Habana Melody "showcases his ability . . . to limn [his characters'] inner lives with insight."
  
• H. W. Brands "never penetrates [Benjamin] Franklin's placid demeanor to limn his inner life."
  
• "None of [Nicholson] Baker's considerable talents as a writer, his ability to reinvent the mundane rituals of daily life or limn the inner lives of his characters, are on display" in The Fermata.
  
• Ann Beattie's early works showed her "ability to limn her characters' inner lives with the same authority she brought to descriptions of their daily routines."

Death:

• "The Whale Hunters" by Sebastian Junger "deftly limns the brutal, perilous and harrowing art of killing a 40-ton creature with a hand-thrown weapon."

Related:

• Articles by Matt Gross
• Table of Contents: Nov 11, 2002 issue of New York | Subscribe!