Quote reblogged from novaya zemlya with 145 notes
The semicolon is the most human of punctuation marks, precisely because it’s inherently ambiguous and complicated: it can join two independent clauses that don’t relate, or two independent clauses that closely relate. Its very use is a signifier of the complexity of human thought, of our knack for making connections, right or wrong, between ideas and impressions. It’s messy but it’s democratic. (Probably why Cormac McCarthy hates it.) Sure, it interrupts the rhythm sometimes, but human consciousness doesn’t always unfold with flawless cadence; it’s a reminder that we’re not always as clever as we think we are. The semicolon also occupies a place of tremendous peril because it’s not as terminal as the period, which is the universal sign of THE END, nor is it the mere slight breath of a comma, a piece of punctuation that provides only the merest of interruptions, and almost seems to be saying, ‘carry on.’ In this respect, the semicolon occupies an area somewhere between the living and the dead; its suggestion of finality, like a brush with death, will get you to pay attention to what follows a little more closely than if a mere comma were standing in your way.
Jonathan Evans, in an email to Lisa Lutz (via davidmanque)
I blame the popular sentiment against semicolons, like I blame so many other contemporary literary ills, on Ernest Hemingway. Who would have thought that so many generations of writers would balk at any kind of stylistic evolution away from terse reportage? I wonder, had he lived to see it, if he would have had a similar reaction to Alan Moore, post-Watchmen, where he basically apologized for making comics gritty and miserable for a few decades (LOOKING AT YOU, FRANK MILLER). Like, “Hey guys, was I naive to think you would all kind of, you know, do your own thing, writing-wise?”* And then go back to being smug and beardy and eventually withdrawing into crotchety irrelevance/h8erizm/a cave, also like Alan Moore.**
I would add something further about the merits of semicolons, but the quotation really sums up their exquisite nuance better than I ever could. I will say, however, that strictures against their use are completely nonsensical. But then, I am from the school of thought that thinks, with regard to style, you can do whatever you want as long as you do it judiciously. I also have been known to wear black and navy blue together, but SO DID PATRICK MCGOOHAN ON THE PRISONER, AND HE LOOKED FLY AS HELL. It doesn’t take a genius to extrapolate that I also think What Not to Wear is a stupid show with a borderline-pernicious premise.***
*Of course it is telling of my own writing sensibilities that my Fauxmingway sounds like a mad casual, comma-lover, but you try growing up in the San Fernando Valley and majoring in Classics, and just see if it doesn’t rub off on you. COLLOQUIALISMS & SUBORDINATE CLAUSES 4 LYFE.
**I like some of Alan Moore’s work, but I think Watchmen is pretty dated and heavy-handed, and also Alan Moore says that nothing good or original is happening in comics right now, which means he obviously doesn’t have a clue about anything, because GRANT MORRISON, if nothing else (and there is a lot of else!).
***In general, I hate the lowest common denominator approach to style and creativity, which emphasizes rules over the more difficult, but infinitely more rewarding, method of seeking out the sometimes intangible “it” factor that makes things (books! outfits! music! etc.!) work even when it doesn’t seem like they should. It’s a sloppy learning curve, but at least it doesn’t produce armies of clones.
Source: davidmanque
