I recently read a book. Don’t look so surprised.
In my annual reading plan (which I discussed here), I try to discover a few new authors every year. One of this year’s authors is the late Brian Doyle, essayist and novelist. His book has been a joy. However, he, like an increasing number of novelists (seemingly), eschews quotation marks in his fictional dialogue.
Like this:
What does it feel like?
Like electricity, in a way, says Worried Man. But there’s a sort of screaming or tearing in it. A chattering. It’s hard to explain.
Where is it?
Nearby. Up.
Can you tell …?
A woman.
The doctor, discreet, bows gently and heads back to his house.
(from Brian Doyle’s Mink River, Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University Press, 2010)
I don’t like that. I know, I know, it’s “literary.” It is a “union of form and content, where everything is given the same undifferentiated weight because everything feels equally heavy,” according to Maija Kappler. In her article, “Why Are So Many Authors Abandoning Speech Marks?” she points out that successful authors from Sally Rooney to Celeste Ng are doing it.
It’s a choice. Some even think quotation marks slow down the reader. But for my money (not that I have any), I think it courts confusion. even when I’m reading the brilliant fiction of a writer like Brian Doyle. I’m not always sure when speech ends and sometimes find myself reading nonspeech as if it were spoken, and vice versa, forcing me to retrace my steps and reorient myself before reading on.
Yes, I know I’m old-fashioned. I’m also a curmudgeon. And maybe I’ll get used to it the more I read it. Then again, once I discover a writer making that style choice, I actually consider avoiding that person’s other works.
What about you? Have you come across this in your reading? Do you prefer quotation marks or not? Do tell.
No Contest Win? Thank You for Writing!
Everything has equal weight,
and words get stuck in goo
to take writing from good to great
say the haughty eggheads who
mandate new and rising styles
to college kids in writing classes,
banning snap and banning smiles
while passing highfalutin gasses.
Me, I really want to see
a variation, change of mass,
not some bland equality
penned by a prideful writing…donkey,
so call me one plebeian drone,
and leave quotation marks alone!
Great, Andrew! I like that.
Bob, I applaud you for having the tenacity to finish a book by an author who eschews quotation marks and simply not read another of his works.
I would allow myself to get to the second time the author failed to use quotation marks because I would assume the first time was gross negligence on his and his editor’s part. By the second or third time he failed to use them, I would figure out it was going to be his SOP, and I would stop reading. I would not attempt another book he authored.
Like you, I would be constantly re-reading to see what was speech and whether the character took one or more paragraphs to voice his thoughts before a different speaker took over speaking.
It would certainly take me out of the reading to have to figure out what was not spoken. Quotation marks are clarifying (like the Oxford comma 😉).
I agree cent per cent! Even celebrated writers like Jhumpa Lahiri makes a mess of things in The Lowland.
That is what happens when you read a ‘literary’ book. It becomes art over something realistically enjoyable and accessible.
I prefer quotation marks.
I think those “jots and tittles” are important!
Since there are so many forms of communication these days, we need ways to show how the characters are communicating. For example, in my Internet Shutdown series, they text each other, private chat each other through a secret server, and (in my last book), some characters use a brain implant device to share thoughts with one another. For actual speaking out loud, I use quotation marks. For texting or private chat, I use Courier New font. For “thought messaging,” I use italics. Otherwise people would have no idea who is saying what and how.
I agree.
If the reader has to stop and think about who is saying what to whom, the author has broken his or her contract with the reader.
In fact, I prefer English quotation marks.
I whole heartedly agree. Quotation marks were created of a reason. As far to train of thought that they slow the reader down, it’s the absence of them that slows me down trying to figure out if someone is saying this or if it’s a part of narration. I’d be interested to know why this author makes this choice. In trying to be unique and/or clever by breaking the rules, we can “unique and/or clever” our way right into being an annoyance to our readers. I already have enough options for doing that without (that I promise I try to avoid) skipping the quotations marks.
Thanks Bob for holding the line between good writing and total literary anarchy.
What Andrew and everyone else said.
I agree, quotation marks are helpful. I think lack of QM slows down the reader because we have to go back and reread to make sure we understand the dialogue.
Amen and amen! Quotation marks don’t slow me down; not using them slows me down. I have to go back and reread everything two or three times to figure out what is dialogue and what is narrative. Really, really irritating.
“I’m old-fashioned. I’m also a curmudgeon.”
“Me, too! Please don’t ever cancel these precious
punctuators that bring conversational clarity to my reading experience.”
In academic writing, leaving out quotation marks leads to the charge of plagiarism. I like quotation marks; I hate plagiarism. Call me strict. Or call me a professor.
I definitely prefer quotes. I get too distracted to read without them!
Becky Strange
I like quotation marks. They are fence posts that keep thoughts from speech, so you know what is what and where you are on the page and story.
I haven’t come across this before, but now that I have, I can’t stand it. Why would quotation marks slow readers down? I’ve always been a slower reader (high comprehension, slow speed) and getting confused about when something is dialog or not would slow me down further. Honestly, if I came across this without knowing it was an intentional choice, I’d think maybe the book’s file got corrupted before printing and it deleted all the quotation marks!
Another vote in favor of quotation marks.
Before I buy a book, I always read a page or two (unless it’s one of my automatic-buy authors) and if there were no quotation marks, I’d put it down. I read for pure entertainment and having to figure out who said what or when they stopped speaking isn’t entertainment.
I like quotation marks too. And as an author, I pay close attention when a reader says they avoid reading authors once they find out they don’t use quotation marks.
I like quotation marks—except when used for “emphasis,” if you know what I “mean.”
Cancelling quotation marks? Yikes! No quotation marks would “court confusion” as Bob points out. I wouldn’t read a book that failed to use them.
I need quotation marks! I also like exclamation points. 😉
If I have to do more going back and reading the section again to figure out who said what and if it’s actually said, I’m going to put the book down.
I’ll continue to use quotation marks!
God save the quotation mark, IMHO!
Completely agree that quotation marks are essential to ease of comprehension. Literary novels enjoy breaking rules and that works for some readers. That approach would stop my reading
Although I wonder if future generations speaking to one another via brain implants and palming open doors with physically embedded chips rather than keys or codes will look back at us as members of the literary dinosaur age.
If you’re speaking from your brain straight into mine, I don need no fussy marks, huh? 🙂
As I recall, James Jones’ “From Here to Eternity” has little punctuation of any kind. Although considered a classic, I couldn’t finish it. It was too difficult to read.
There are lots of shortcuts. Not all arrive at the correct destination.
I like “abbreviating” quotation marks by using apostrophes. For some reason, I don’t like hitting the shift key unless I have to; just using the apostrophe is faster and accomplishes the task perfectly well.
Bring on the quotation marks.
Definitely quotation marks!
If I see a book without quotation marks, I put it back down.
I agree. It’s about clarity and avoiding confusion. If quotation marks are not important, why should we teach them in school?
“I don’t like it!”
As you said, “Yes, I know I’m old-fashioned.”
“Well, so am I, so am I,” I’d say.
I had not seen this, but I very much prefer quotation marks. They provide clarity. Lack of them causes confusion.
I am a Civil War buff and enjoy non-fiction as well as novels written during that era. However, when I tried to read MacKinlay Kantor’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Andersonville, I could not get through it because he did not use quotation marks. I love long books. I’ve read many thick novels and have always enjoyed them. But sadly, Mister Kantor’s failure to use quotation marks distracted me — terribly–so I quit reading it.
I’m still struggling with the modern intentional misuse of “you” and “me”. Don’t take away my quotation marks too. I may not be able to breathe when reading aloud! And, yes, I like exclamation marks too!!!
I fully support any effort to maintain proper punctuation marks. What are they going to do away with next? Periods. I mean the little dots at the end of a sentence.
I would probably abandon any book that didn’t have quotation marks out of sheer frustration and confusion. On the counter point, what’s worse is overuse of quotation marks. I review application narratives as part of my day job, and it’s horrible when “quote” are “overused” to the point where it “slows down” the reader.
That’s the only way I show speech in my writing. So love it! Thanks.
God bless you.
Blessings,
Sophia