# The best punctuation marks in literature **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 17, 2014, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-punctuation-marks-in-literature/679085 "2014-01-17T18:27:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![I\_Made\_French\_Toast\_For\_You](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/858c86/32.png) [@I\_Made\_French\_Toast\_For\_You](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Made_French_Toast_For_You)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-punctuation-marks-in-literature/679085/1 "2014-01-17T18:27:40Z")
Kathryn Schulz wrote a great little listicle for Vulture called “[The 5 Best Punctuation Marks in Literature](http://www.vulture.com/2014/01/best-punctuation-marks-literature-nabokov-eliot-dickens-levi.html),” which discusses, for example, Nabokov’s hilarious parentheses and George Eliot’s superb em-dash. Do you all have any favorite uses of exclamation marks, ampersands, ellipses, et cetera? It could be in prose, poetry, or something else entirely. The first great punctuation that sprang to my mind was Clarice Lispector’s enigmatic six em-dashes after the last sentence of _The Passion According to G.H._: > [@](#): > > Life just is for me, and I don’t understand what I’m saying. And so I adore it. — — — — — — What are they doing there? Why are there six, and not five, or seven? Is it meant to denote the continuation of the narrator’s existence after the final sentence, or the end of it? Does it stand in for a missing sentence or word? Does she finally, and completely stop understanding her self-expression? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-punctuation-marks-in-literature/679085/2 "2014-01-17T18:37:58Z")
The absent apostrophe in _Finnegans Wake_. The period at the end of the “Ithaca” chapter of _Ulysses_. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-punctuation-marks-in-literature/679085/3 "2014-01-17T18:42:22Z")
Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions: “To give an idea of the maturity of my illustrations for this book, here is my picture of an asshole:” - Stupid size limits ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-punctuation-marks-in-literature/679085/4 "2014-01-17T18:43:34Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-punctuation-marks-in-literature/679085/5 "2014-01-17T18:45:11Z")
Excellent call on #5. I should have thought of that. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-punctuation-marks-in-literature/679085/6 "2014-01-17T20:39:41Z")
Ian Fleming, in _Moonraker_ (1955), Bond is calling upon M at a social club, and he is identified as “Admiral Sir M---- M-------” A decade later, in _The Man With the Golden Gun_, M is identified as Admiral Sir Miles Messervy, and the blanks are filled in exactly right. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-punctuation-marks-in-literature/679085/7 "2014-01-17T21:00:10Z")
Not exactly literature, but Ben Franklin (hey, it’s his birthday today!) wrote a letter to a friend in London in the mid-1770s as the Revolution loomed, and concluded his letter with: \*Now you are my enemy, and I am yours, Ben Franklin\* ---
**Author:** ![I\_Made\_French\_Toast\_For\_You](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/858c86/32.png) [@I\_Made\_French\_Toast\_For\_You](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Made_French_Toast_For_You)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-punctuation-marks-in-literature/679085/8 "2014-01-17T23:05:07Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > Ian Fleming, in _Moonraker_ (1955), Bond is calling upon M at a social club, and he is identified as “Admiral Sir M---- M-------” A decade later, in _The Man With the Golden Gun_, M is identified as Admiral Sir Miles Messervy, and the blanks are filled in exactly right. That’s great. Reminds me of “Major ---- de Coverley” in _Catch-22_. Can’t remember if his name was ever revealed though. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-punctuation-marks-in-literature/679085/9 "2014-01-17T23:16:02Z")
> [@I\_Made\_French\_Toast\_For\_You](#): > > That’s great. Reminds me of “Major ---- de Coverley” in _Catch-22_. Can’t remember if his name was ever revealed though. Nope. Nobody wants to ask his name. It reminds me of the Victorian(?) novel fashion where they would blank out even fictional characters’ names. **Of course** , there is a [TVTrope](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SpellMyNameWithABlank). ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-punctuation-marks-in-literature/679085/10 "2014-01-18T00:44:44Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > The absent apostrophe in _Finnegans Wake_. . . . SF writer Vernor Vinge did the same trick in his book “Rainbows End.” ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2014, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-punctuation-marks-in-literature/679085/11 "2014-01-19T22:51:07Z")
> [@I\_Made\_French\_Toast\_For\_You](#): > > That’s great. Reminds me of “Major ---- de Coverley” in _Catch-22_. Can’t remember if his name was ever revealed though. Whether or not it’s relevant, "Sir Roger de Coverley " is the name of an English folk dance . There may have been five gaps in the name. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-punctuation-marks-in-literature/679085/12 "2014-01-20T11:52:22Z")
100% of E.E. Cummings poems. ---
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-punctuation-marks-in-literature/679085/13 "2014-01-20T14:14:49Z")
There was a piece I read somewhere about Russian writers and their favourite punctuation marks, and how it expressed their styles. I remember Bely and Gogol being mentioned, as well as a couple others, but I can’t remember any details at all. It may have even been something Nabokov wrote about Russian writers – I just don’t know. I feel it may be relevant to this discussion, but unfortunately I can’t locate it right now. Does anyone know what I am talking about and/or can find it? ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-punctuation-marks-in-literature/679085/14 "2014-01-20T16:44:36Z")
I suppose everyone knows [the famous telegram (and response)](http://everything2.com/title/The+world%2527s+shortest+correspondence) that Victor Hugo sent his publisher to inquire how sales of Les Misérables were doing. Hugo: ? Publisher: ! ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-punctuation-marks-in-literature/679085/15 "2014-01-20T18:34:01Z")
Im not sure if I like Cormac McCarthys no apostrophe affectation and wouldnt think someone of Irish ancestry would discard such an important piece of writers punctuation. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-punctuation-marks-in-literature/679085/16 "2014-01-20T22:14:06Z")
“After dinner, the men moved into the living room.” A sentence of Thurber’s, edited by Harold Ross. I’ll always love that comma for the laugh it gave me via Thurber’s explanation. > [@](#): > > He picked out this sentence in a New Yorker casual of mine: ‘After dinner, the men moved into the living room,’ and he wanted to know why I, or the editors, had put in the comma. I could explain that one all night. I wrote back that this particular comma was Ross’s way of giving the men time to push back their chairs and stand up. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Made\_French\_Toast\_For\_You](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/858c86/32.png) [@I\_Made\_French\_Toast\_For\_You](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Made_French_Toast_For_You)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-punctuation-marks-in-literature/679085/17 "2014-01-20T23:52:49Z")
Major ---- and Sir M---- reminded me of some other character/punctuation names: “K.” from Kafka’s _The Castle_ “V.” from Pynchon’s _V._ The punctuationally maximalist “A . . .” from Robbe-Grillet’s _Jealousy_ > [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Im not sure if I like Cormac McCarthys no apostrophe affectation and wouldnt think someone of Irish ancestry would discard such an important piece of writers punctuation. I think it suits you quite nicely. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-punctuation-marks-in-literature/679085/18 "2014-01-21T00:59:55Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Im not sure if I like Cormac McCarthys no apostrophe affectation and wouldnt think someone of Irish ancestry would discard such an important piece of writers punctuation. He also often doesn’t use quotation marks. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-punctuation-marks-in-literature/679085/19 "2014-01-21T02:04:22Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > He also often doesn’t use quotation marks. Well if I had my druthers and wasnt purposely dropping them Id write it like this > [@thelurkinghorror I think hacking up my own quote is okay](#): > > Im not sure if I like Cormac McCarthys **“no apostrophe affectation”** and wouldnt think someone of Irish ancestry would discard such an important piece of writers punctuation. Very serendipitous (and I’ll start using them): I wasn’t searching for apostrophes or anything, but this is current news I see: [Apostrophe catastrophe as Cambridge City Council bans punctuation from new street names](http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Apostrophe-catastrophe-as-Cambridge-City-Council-bans-punctuation-from-new-street-names-20140117060000.htm). You can pry them out of my cold dead hands, England. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-punctuation-marks-in-literature/679085/20 "2014-01-21T11:58:29Z")
McCarthy also has the habit of pushing together two words when they have one meeting. Examples: sockfeet, machinegun. It’s sort of interesting to track while you’re reading him.