lowercase will is back not to basics
William Hochman (wh14@is9.nyu.edu)
Tue, 17 Aug 1999 09:41:49 -0400 (EDT)
Hello bananafish, I've just returned from months of travelling and as I
scanned the July archives I felt at home seeing Scottie defend proper
English...(though Italian is a far better language altogether!).
Since ee, many fine writers have avoided punctuation. Cormac McCarthy
comes to mind, so does Irvine Welsch, and so do many fine poets writing
today. Sorry, but IMHO, many fine writers have "played" outside of the
grammar, punctuation and syntax we respect to great effect...however, to
quote that poet Bob Dylan, "To live outside the law you must be honest."
When good writers like Paul Auster in _Timbuktu_ for example (because
that's the book I've just read) use an occasional sentence fragment, I
don't call the grammar police but sense a rhythm of speech and thought
that is represented well in the writing...come on Scottie, I've been a
college professor and directed a writing program for Freshmen and I know
better than to be such a hard ass...lighten up dude, and of course, hello!
will