Looking at Novels

Looking at Novels Typography, Punctuation, & Spelling in Some Contemporary Fiction By Francis Leahy Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of a Doctoral degree in English Literature Trinity College Dublin 25th May 2020 Declaration I declare that this thesis has not been submitted as an exercise for a degree at this or any other university and it is entirely my own work. I agree to deposit this thesis in the University’s open access institutional repository or allow the library to do so on my behalf, subject to Irish Copyright Legislation and Trinity College Library conditions of use and acknowledgement. ________________________________ Summary This is a study of the visual appearance of some contemporary novels. The thesis uses an interdisciplinary approach, combining literary criticism with perspectives derived from linguistics. Individual chapters consider typography, punctuation, and spelling. Novels by Roddy Doyle, Irvine Welsh, Mark Haddon, and David Mitchell, as authors who make particular use of these dimensions of meaning, constitute the main primary source material. The discussion is primarily focussed on how these writers exploit these dimensions of meaning within the medium of print and genre of the novel, but some broader points about how these elements developed and function within the medium and genre more generally are also made. Other primary texts are sometimes used where they display particularly revealing or influential usage of the features under discussion. The chapter on typography discusses the essential integration of text with typography, with a case study on italics. The chapter on punctuation examines how punctuation relates to phonology in this genre, with a case study on ellipsis points. The chapter on spelling discusses how the novel is a genre which provides a space for non-standard spellings, with a case study on dialect-spelling. This thesis argues that novels are fundamentally a printed genre, and because print is a medium which presents language in a visible form, that to understand novels it is necessary to consider in particular those dimensions of meaning that are inherent to the medium – namely, typography, punctuation, and spelling. This means novels must be looked at, not just read. Acknowledgements I am first and foremost indebted to Professor Aileen Douglas, who has been a fastidious, generous and very patient supervisor throughout the PhD process. From my first, trepidatious interview hoping to be accepted as an undergraduate at the School of English Trinity College, she has been an ever-present support and influence throughout my academic career. I am immensely grateful for all her advocacy on my behalf. Diane Sadler and Brenda Brooks, also at the School of English, have always been particularly helpful too, despite the numerous times I have made their jobs harder. I must thank also my co-supervisor, Dr. Breffni O’Rourke, whose course on Language and Technology as part of the M.Phil in linguistics at the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences went a large way to inspiring this thesis. My colleague and friend, Dr. Des Ryan, in his boundless enthusiasm and energy for this subject matter, also provided much in the way of inspiration. Dr. Robin Fuller deserves a special thanks for cheerfully assisting me at moments of particular crisis, and for his friendship and support. I’ve been lucky to be able to rely on old friends like Gary Glennon, who since we were rudely stamped teenagers has always encouraged the good in me, and discouraged the bad. The ultimate thanks, as always, goes to my Ma, Eileen, without who nothing I’ve ever achieved would have been possible. Contents Introduction…………………………………………………….……………………..…1 Chapter 1: Typography……...………………….……………………………………....69 Case Study: Italics……………...……………………………………………..104 Chapter 2: Punctuation………………………….………………...…………………..147 Case Study: Ellipsis Points………………..………...…..…………………….181 Chapter 3: Spelling…………………………………………………………………....236 Case Study: Dialect Spelling………………………………………………….258 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….299 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………..305 List of Figures Figure 1. Cloud Atlas (Mitchell, 2004: 327)………………….……………………..…93 Figure 2. Cloud Atlas (Mitchell, 2004: 329)……………………………………...……94 Figure 3. Filth (Welsh, 1998: 69)……………………..…………...………………….101 Figure 4. Filth (Welsh, 1998: 107)…………………………...……...……………..…102 Figure 5. Filth (Welsh, 1998: 13)………………………………...…………………...138 Figure 6. Filth (Welsh, 1998: 14)……………………………………………………..139 Figure 7. Marabou Stork Nightmares (Welsh, 1995: 39)………………………….…179 Figure 8. Sheet Music for Drums…………………......................................................201 Figure 9. Tristram Shandy (Sterne, 1761: 56-7)…………………...…………………211 Figure 10. Tristram Shandy (Sterne, 1761: 1)…………………………………...……210 Figure 11. Curious Incident (Haddon, 2004: 208-10)…………………………………299 Figure 12. Dead Men’s Trousers (Welsh, 2018: 277, 280, 279)…………………….....300 1 Introduction Samuel Beckett famously proclaimed that Finnegans Wake “is not only to be read, it is to be looked at and listened to” (qtd. in Astro 1990: 29). Beckett was pointing out that graphic and phonic elements of language are both present in Joyce’s masterpiece, and must be appreciated as distinct. It is an instruction to consider not only the language of the work, but also the sound and appearance of that language. It is also an injunction to pay attention to the relationship between appearance and sound, because while language has traditionally been primarily spoken and auditory, texts encode language in a visual medium. As such, they must always be looked at. By examining novels in these terms – as material objects to be engaged with visually – this thesis aims to help address a well- recognised deficit in literary studies. This will be achieved by articulating a linguistic understanding, through the lens of a small range of contemporary texts, of how these visual features function within the genre today. This analysis will also contribute to debates in linguistics about the elements that constitute the writing system of English. It may seem like stating the obvious, but it is an important point to remember: we read books with our eyes, not with our ears. The dominant conception of language within the discipline dedicated to its study (linguistics), however, remains very much in terms of speech. Language can appear and be understood in different media, not only sound. Sign language, handwriting, print – and latterly a huge variety of electronic forms of text – all are examples of language in visible forms. Even those phonic aspects of Finnegans Wake that prompted Beckett’s injunction to “listen” must be 2 communicated visually. The fact that writing/print is processed visually has a variety of implications that influence the form of the language presented in this medium. There are always choices to be made about how the words appear, just as we must always make choices about how loud, or with what intonation we speak. Even when these choices are not consciously made, they contribute to how meaning is delivered. To “look at” (as opposed to read) written or printed material is to engage with precisely those dimensions of meaning that are a function of the medium. Spelling, punctuation, typography – all of these textual elements are visual. Unlike the words, sentences, characters, plot, setting, etc., spelling, punctuation and typography are not present in audio versions of the text. They are of a different order from these other elements of storytelling, confined as they are, within the original medium of the novel – written language, but more specifically print. Finnegans Wake has been described as the ultimate “anti-novel” (Fordham 2007: 62). It is in many ways an aberrant text, eschewing norms of plot, character, and style, and thereby defying boundaries of categorisation. Joyce achieved this novelty in multiple dimensions primarily by creating a unique language, an ephemeral palimpsest dialect comprised of many languages, constantly shifting to evade any reader trying to obtain precise meaning. It was not this linguistic novelty, however, that prompted Beckett to issue his instruction. It was instead much more established novelistic practices in Finnegans Wake that demanded it be examined in novel ways: looking and listening. The novel from its inception is a genre which often exploited these 3 dimensions of written language in its printed form. There are numerous instances of punning and sound symbolism in Finnegans Wake that can only be appreciated phonically, just as there are unusual formatting choices and cryptic drawings which can only be appreciated visually.1 Although the prominence of these features demanded that the book be “looked at, and listened to” along with being read, the same rubric can be usefully applied to any novel. Although this may not be immediately apparent with novels which are more restrained in these dimensions, the fact remains novels almost always contain dialogue – which is written language purporting to be speech, and thus has an intrinsic phonic element. They also inevitably contain spelling, punctuation, typography, and all the other visual apparatus present as a matter of course in books – precisely those elements Beckett insisted must be “looked at”. There are significant variations in these practices between all novels. The publishing industry would not require professional typesetters and graphic designers were this not so. Where there is variation – and considered variation at

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