In my last couple of entries I've gotten rather high flown about writing. Time to touch the ground again.
Vince, at To Grow Is To Be Anxious, this one's for you!
Thank you, Vince, for introducing me to Becker's Denial of Death and for sharing your poetry with us. Your poetry teaches us much about what it means to be human. And Becker's is truly a life-changing book. I think Becker would agree with the following quote from Kurt Vonnegut's new book, A Man Without A Country:
"The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You have created something."
I also must include the following quote from Vonnegut's book:
"Here is a lesson in creative writing.
"First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college."
*Note: I believe I was a senior in college before I fully understood the purpose of a semi-colon. When I told our youngest son the Vonnegut quote, he laughed and then said, "But semi-colons are so cool!" (He is a newly minted senior in college). Semi-colons do abound in essay writing and academic writing. They are used much less often in poetry and fiction. I believe what Vonnegut is proposing is not a hard-and-fast rule, but a break from high fallutin' academic writing. It may be an interesting experiment to pay attention the next time you read a poem or story and see how many semi-colons are used. I think it helps writers to pay attention to things like that, and that's why I included the quote in this entry. I wanted people to think a bit about punctuation and what certain marks of punctuation represent.
(I found, as did our son, that once you figure out what semi-colons are and how to use them, they become addictive.)
I think what Vonnegut would have us ask ourselves is why we are using the semi-colon. If we're using it to show we know how (i.e. I'm a college graduate), then it serves no useful purpose.
21 comments:
HAAAAAAAAAA!!!
He (Vonnegut) isn't one to sugarcoat it!
andi
Aww, Theresa, thanks for mentioning my poetry. You know I agree about Becker`s "The Denial of Death". It`s funny, I`ve spent the last 35 years of my life as either a Psych grad student or as a clinical psychologist, yet, for me, the most important book in my field was written by an anthropologist.
To quote from the review published in the Albuquerque Journal Book Review:
........The Denial of Death is a great book--one of the few great books of the 20th or any other century..........
{not a bad review, huh?}
Then I ponder further and realize my dissertation on existential values and their measurement was also based on the writings of an anthropologist! Go Figure!
And thank you for bringing me back to Kurt. I hadn`t even known that he had a new book published.
See, Theresa, you`ve got me on an assignment again! This is the longest comment I`ve ever written.
Hugs,
V
lol Don't use semicolons? lol Nice rule lol
~Lily
now it sounds as if I must read The Denial of Death...
(not saying I deny death, oh no....not me.)
You know I don't believe I have ever used a semicolon. I just love to write my sentences may not always be correct, but my intentions are. Sandi http://journals.aol.com/sdoscher458/LifeIsFullOfSurprises
I believe I was a senior in college before I fully understood the purpose of a semi-colon. When I told our youngest son the Vonnegut quote, he laughed and then said, "But semi-colons are so cool!" (He is a newly minted senior in college). Semi-colons do abound in essay writing and academic writing. They are used much less often in poetry and fiction. I believe what Vonnegut is proposing is a break from high fallutin' academic writing. It may be an interesting experiment to pay attention the next time you read a poem or story and see how many semi-colons are used. I think it helps writers to pay attention to things like that, and that's why I included the quote in this entry. I wanted people to think a bit about punctuation and what certain marks of punctuation represent.
Well, it looks like my reading list has just grown again by two. That first Vonnegut quote is incredible and a damn good reminder about the real significance of any cretive endeavor. As for semi-colons, they tempt me so, but I know that I can be the queen of the run-on sentence, and they're an indulgence I need to avoid.
VINCE SAID: yet, for me, the most important book in my field was written by an anthropologist.
Vince, did you know that Vonnegut has a Masters in Anthropology?!
Yikes! Anthropologists! They`re everywhere!
V
H.L. MENCKEN RARELY USED SEMI COLONS. of course, he never went to college
is there such a thing as SEMI COLON REHAB?
LOL My college prof was of the opinion that semicolons are overused and if we used one we would receive a lower grade!
Hey! Not a word on behalf of the humble semi-colon???? I say this is rank discrimination! On behalf of all transvestite hermaphrodites (damn, you learned my secret), I would like to say that there is a place for everything, and everything has its place.
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
A gesture of defiance; so there.
Stimulating and thought-provoking entry, as ever, my dear,
Vicky
http://www.livejournal.com/users/vxv789/
About the addictive semi-colon: I once had a workshop comment I will never forget, concerning dialogue. "Paula," she said, "people don't talk in semi-colons!" At the time, I argued. But she was right.
And another semi-colon story: I once had lunch with a large group of (fellow, at the time) graduate teaching asstants. One commented how hard it was to explain the proper use of a semi-colon. TWO others responded: "Yeah, I just don't do it. I just tell them not to use them."
The horror! The horror!
P.S.
Semi-colons ARE cool. They can be overused or underused, but one used sparingly, in exactly the right place, is a thing of beauty.
Paula you crack me up....
Like reading Monty Python only funny and smarter.
Much, much smarter.
I only wonder what e.e. cummings would say...lol. Wasn't he an interesting punctuationalist? (is that a word?) ;)
My favorite definition of this punctuation:
The semi-colon means stop. Read this portion and mull it over; then read the second portion and let it stew.
The colon means go. I wanna make a point, and it's this: cut it out.
I've started Joan Didion's "The Year of Magical Thinking." She says she wants to turn all her fixed ideas on death and loss upside down. It seems like a magical book...maybe it will help me prepare for Becker.
Thinking of you
-Beth
I am not a college graduate. But I think semi colons are cute; even it I can only legally use them once in a great, great while. They are pretty useless, aren't they?
Jude
http://journals.aol.com/jmorancoyle/MyWay
P.S.: I do use them once in a great, great while. Usually more for effect than for any other reason.
18 comments on the semi-colon! (Nineteen now!)
Theresa, you are, as always, an inspiration.
PS:
I never met a semicolon I didn't like.
Poets yes, but never a well placed pause....
Vince on the ohter hand is a poet I get or rather a poet who gets me and thus we are poetic pair.
I have also heard an adage which goes: "People don't talk in semi-colons", but this cannot be farther from the truth.
People speak not only in semi-colons, but in commas, colons, parentheses, quotation marks, exclamation points, quarter-colons, eighth-colons, and a million little marks no one's even invented yet.
Written language is not speech. Written language is an approximation of speech. It is an interpretation of speech. It is a code used to record what someone has spoken. Written language is like written music. It can approximate the subtleties of the notes and nuances of the pitches and tunes, but it can never translate to perfection the intent of the spoken stream of thought.
Written language is then read and interpreted, but it can never recreate the nuances uttered by the spoken word.
Not only do people speak in semi-colons, they speak in a million subtle punctuation marks no one's even ever thought to make symbols for.
So for those who think people don't speak in semi-colons - just spend less time reading and more time listening to real people.
SamScrooge
Post a Comment