June 28th, 2010 / 7:34 pm
Snippets
Snippets
Jimmy Chen—
According to Harper’s Index, in 1988 there were 2,343 exclamation points in The Bonfire of the Vanities; in 1990 that number had remained. Harper’s seems keen on addressing this, no doubt due to their rhetorical statistics. I can’t imagine how an author wouldn’t be self-conscious of the, say, thousandth exclamation point!…though Céline’s endless ellipses is just as tiresome…which makes me wonder is syntax style or mere muscle memory over the keyboard? If a mark is given the honor of sentience, shouldn’t that honor be met with profoundly grave and troublesome responsibility? Self-assured writing, put simply, is douchey, like Henry Miller with a gigantic contraceptive sponge.
i feel like henry miller might be some kind of eagle
7/2010 Number of occurences of the phrase “every so often” in _2666_: 157*
n/year: Norwegian translation of “Bonfire of the vanities” translated back to English: “Fireworks of the vanities”
*Uh
i feel like henry miller might be some kind of eagle
Dude, that’s a diaphragm on Henry’s head. An Orcan diaphragm.
I think Tom Wolfe is an honorable gateway drug to literature!, and one worth endorsing! But the nonfiction is where it’s at!
7/2010 Number of occurences of the phrase “every so often” in _2666_: 157*
n/year: Norwegian translation of “Bonfire of the vanities” translated back to English: “Fireworks of the vanities”
*Uh
You’re mistaken. The first number is the number of exclamation marks in Tom Wolfe’s novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities and the second number is the number of exclamation marks in an actual bonfire. Of vanities.
Dude, that’s a diaphragm on Henry’s head. An Orcan diaphragm.
I think Tom Wolfe is an honorable gateway drug to literature!, and one worth endorsing! But the nonfiction is where it’s at!
I want a job – I do not want one so badly as to be the guy who counts the quantity of anything in a book. I’m sure the publisher has this info or it would be easier to obtain it if you were the publisher. Now it is simple to find out how many of anything is in anything but in 1988 and 1990 – I don’t believe it was.
I envision some low paid intern being handed this tome and being told to count first the exclamation points and then the periods, but not at the same time.
pedantic
You’re mistaken. The first number is the number of exclamation marks in Tom Wolfe’s novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities and the second number is the number of exclamation marks in an actual bonfire. Of vanities.
I want a job – I do not want one so badly as to be the guy who counts the quantity of anything in a book. I’m sure the publisher has this info or it would be easier to obtain it if you were the publisher. Now it is simple to find out how many of anything is in anything but in 1988 and 1990 – I don’t believe it was.
I envision some low paid intern being handed this tome and being told to count first the exclamation points and then the periods, but not at the same time.
pedantic