Re: lowercase will is back not to basics

Camille Scaysbrook (c_scaysbrook@yahoo.com)
Wed, 18 Aug 1999 20:57:38 +1000 

Oops! I almost forgot to add my two cents worth on this topic. There's a
very prominent playwright in Australia named Michael Gow (who, ahem, just
directed a play I contributed to - was that a name I just dropped? (: Guess
name dropping isn't so potent when you don't actually know who the person
is. Okay, try this then: one of his plays gave Cate Blanchett her first big
break and also starred Geoffrey Rush) who has decided to actually eschew
punctuation altogether in his plays. As a drama writer as opposed to a
prose writer, this is a very interesting route to take, as it acknowledges
the inherently collaborative nature of drama. While it is giving the actor
the authority of the words, it's also giving him or her extra-ordinary
leeway in their interpretation of them. It's a technique that has rubbed a
few playwrights I know the wrong way, but it's certainly an interesting and
I think very brave approach. Because despite all, we tend to hope that
people will be nice to the little child-stories we send out there into the
big world.

Maybe that's why I'm all for collaboration between reader and writer in
literature - it's just an accepted part when you're writing drama. You
provide the clothes and the actors and director provide the body that will
re-animate them. 

Will (I was wondering who this William guy was! (: ) wrote:
> 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!



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