Punctuation: Art, Politics, and Play Book

Although I have a background in linguistics, where the first thing you learn is the futility of prescriptivism, I do love my language rules. I can't stomach WalMart's express lanes with ten items or less, I daily grind my teeth over an its/it's violations, and I'm one of those nerds who uses capitalization and punctuation in text messages. Therefore, reading Punctuation: Art, Politics and Play was tough on me. Jennifer DeVere Brody's rereading and redefining of punctuation made me push through my most OCD of prescriptive boundaries.

DeVere Brody's methods are clear from the outset. She states: "Unlike most puntuationists, I eschew a punctilious approach to punctuation. As a result, this book, rather than arguing a point, argues and plays with points - specifically points made about punctuation[…:] Thus, this book focuses on punctuation marks as visual (re)marks." She does, indeed, cast her net wide when searching for support of her theories and whims. She flits from Yayoi Kusama's perfomative polka dots, which she equates with periods (or points) to Richard Artschwager's interactive sculptures of exclamation points to "counter-hegemonic hyphenation" to the infamous ))<>(( scene from Me and You and Everyone We Know. The result is a bit of a wild ride, on a micro and macro scale. The book is challenging in its claims and intellectually limber in its associations, cajoling the reader to keep on her toes.

The most demanding aspect of Punctuation, however, is DeVere Brody's affinity for wordplay. It is at times amusing and edifying, but ends up feeling a bit forced despite its jaunty playfulness. A sampling: She touches interestingly on Robert Hooke's study of a period through a microscope, which reveals the punctuation mark's wild side as a splotch of ink on textured and fibrous paper rather than a smooth, round dot. DeVere Brody is convincing in her connection between Hooke's observations and her own belief in the wildness belying punctuation's rather stalwart reputation. However, her wordplays become twee and may even cause the reader to doubt some of her important and legitimate conclusions. An example: "Hooke, hooked neither on phonics nor phonemes but rather on a punctuation mark, proved a point about the physiology and psychology of reading." She does tend towards topicality, as well.

DeVere Brody's work is undeniably vanguard in a subject that has long ceased to be edgy and new. She should be applauded for her vigor and bravery. It's a hefty dose of insight and perspective for the prescriptivist in all of us.

Review by Jo Ristow