Mar(k)ing the Text: The Presentation of Meaning on the Literary Page

This title was first published in 2000. Punctuation, footnotes, epigraphs, typography, cover design, white space and marginalia are features which significantly affect the meaning of a literary text. This collection of essays draws attention to the importance of those textual elements traditionally ignored in literary criticism. The first section of the book opens with a proposal for a new theory of punctuation. The essays which follow are devoted to interpretations of particular marks in the work of individual writers, including Spenser, Richardson and George Eliot. The consequences of this approach to the literary text are examined in the second section of the book, which begins with a debate on editorial practice and responsibility, and features insights from editors. The essays in the book aim to compel the reader to assess the interaction of textual and literary meaning.