Mar(k)ing the Text
The Presentation of Meaning on the Literary Page
Published on 28. December 2000
Book
Hardback
370 pages
978-0-7546-0168-5 (ISBN)
Description
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.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
48 b&w and 2 colour illustrations, index
Dimensions
Height: 161 mm
Width: 241 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-7546-0168-5 (9780754601685)
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Schweitzer Classification
Content
Redefining marks - mark, space, axis, function - towards a (new) theory of punctuation on historical principles, John lennard; "(T)o correspond with you in green-covered volumes" - George Eliot, G.H. Lewes and the production of her books, Gail Elizabeth Korn; signs in the text - the role of epigraphs, footnotes and typography in clarifying the narrator character relationship in Stendhal's "Le Rouge et le Noir", David Scott; annotating anonymity, or putting a gloss on the "The Shepheardes Calendar, Richard A. McCabe; the critic in the texts - footnotes and marginalia in the epiloge to Aladair Gray's "Lanark - A Life in Four Books", Glyn White; "tranplanted into more congemnial soil" - footnoting the self in the poetry of Charlotte Smith, Jacueline Labbe; the meaning of the margin - white spaces and disagreement in Whistler's "The Gentle Art of making Enemies", Nick Frankel; "Attending to the Minute" - Richardson's revisions of italics in "Pamela", Joe Bray; the re-mark-able rise of"..." - reading ellipsis marks in literary texts, Anne C. Henry; where the angels fear to read, Randall McCleod; editing marks - historical readings and editorial practice, Kelvin Everest; editing Keat's hands, Bharat Tandon; speaking commas/reading commas - punctuating "Mansfield Park", Kathryn Sutherland; seeing the rythym - an interpretation of 16th-century punctuation and metrical practice, Ros King; performing dramatic marks - stage directions and the revival of caste, Miriam Handley; editing Aubrey, Kate Bennett; typographic translation - the Portuguese edition of "Tristram Shandy" (1997-98), Manuel Portela; ma(r)king the electronic text - how, why and for whom?, Peter Robinson; endnote - what is text?, Jerome McGann.