Damus
Lyn Alden · 9w
You know what would be crazy? Just deciding to skip punctuation. Cormac McCarthy, the bestselling and Pulitzer-winning author of books like No Country For Old Men, The Road, and Blood Meridian, famou...
Kevin Alfred Strom profile picture
Lack of proper punctuation can lead to serious misunderstandings.

"Let's eat, Jerry." "Let's eat Jerry."

"How do you do, Sally?" "How do you do Sally?"

And the infamous "Eats shoots and leaves." vs. "Eats, shoots, and leaves."

I suppose an excellent writer could display his skill by still conveying the right meaning without punctuation, but that just seems like showing off to me, sort of like trying to write a whole book without the letter "f." The art of writing would suffer.

To me, a really great novelist conveys not only the words and thoughts, but also the rhythm of his characters' speech. Raymond Chandler would be a prime example of that. Can't see how that can be done well without punctuation. It was developed over the centuries for very good reasons.
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@Rawhide4btc · 9w
Raymond Chandler excellent example.
Jon on Nostr · 9w
Have you read any Cormac McCarthy? Genuinely curious if you think he is able to convey the rhythm of speech. I'm a big Cormac fan so may be biased but I feel like he is able to convey the rhythm of everything, not just speech, better than almost any other writer.