24 May 2006

Punctuation

Another reading week gives me the opportunity to mug up on two of my sideline interests - art theory and punctuation - on both of which I will be reporting in more detail in the next few days. I'm afraid that art theorists tend to generalise too much, but meanwhile, here are three delicious quotes on the art of writing well.

 

"No iron can stab the heart with such force as a full stop put just at the right place" — Isaac Babel

"I have been told that the dying words of one famous 20th century writer were 'I should have used fewer semicolons'" — Lynn Truss

"By its very form (;) the semicolon betrays its dual nature; it is both period and comma " — Eric Partridge

2 comments:

skipper said...

Given the picture of Medterranean spelndour with which you decorate your post, Roy, shouldn't it read 'smug' up?

MANTEX said...

This is my contribution to creating a 'diary of gratitude' - which I understand is an important new concept for those of us of a certain age.