A question concerning quotation
Henry Fielding is pretty inconsistent about putting direct quotation in quotation marks and leaving indirect quotation out, as we can see illustrated by these two adjacent paragraphs:
"As to the meritorious part," he said, "he readily agreed with the captain; for where could be the merit of barely discharging a duty? which," he said, "let the world [sic] charity have what construction it wouold, it sufficiently appeared to be from the whole teneor of the New Testament. And as he thought it an indispensable duty, enjoined both by the Christian law, and by the law of nature itself; so ws it withal so pleasant, that if any duty could be said to be its own reward, or to pay us while we are discharging it, it was this.
"To confess the truth," said he, "there is one degree of generosity (of charity I would have called it)..."
What's the deal? I don't remember such quotational eccentricity in Tristram Shandy.
Comments
on 2006-06-11 13:55:47.0, bitchphd commented:
The deal, I'm pretty sure, is just that the rules aren't all that standardized and he's probably quoting a lot from memory. I think you may be reading too much into it. (Seriously. I could be wrong, but I don't think it really means anything.)
and, further, on 2006-06-11 13:58:05.0, ben wolfson commented:
Lack of standardization of rules makes sense, from memory doesn't because the rule these days if you didn't have the ipsissima verba would be not to put it in quotation marks.
and, further, on 2006-06-11 14:05:56.0, bitchphd commented:
Yeah, but people do it all the time anyway. I do.
and, further, on 2006-06-11 18:56:08.0, A White Bear commented:
Are you baiting me?
What edition are you using, anyway?
and, further, on 2006-06-11 19:01:56.0, ben wolfson commented:
I've got here volume 37 of Great Books of the Western World, Robert Maynard Hutchins, editor (Mortimer J. Adler, associate editor), published by William Benton and festooned all about with the seal of the University of Chicago and copyright 1952 the Encyclopædia Britannica.
and, further, on 2006-06-11 19:08:50.0, A White Bear commented:
The first edition reads:
'As to the meritorious Part,' he said, 'he readily agreed with the Captain; for where could be the Merit of barely discharging a Duty; which (he said) let the Word Charity have what Construction it would, it sufficiently appeared to be from the whole Tenor of the New Testament. And as he thought it an indispensable Duty, enjoined both by the Christian Law, and by the Law of Nature itself; so was it withal so pleasant, that if any Duty could be said to be its own Reward, or to pay us while we are discharging it, it was this.
'To confess the Truth,' said he, 'there is one Degree of Generosity, (of Charity I would have called it)...'
As far as the oddness of the indirect quotation, don't prescriptivists ever read texts older than a hundred years? Jane Eyre does the same thing, and many texts after it do as well. It goes on for a long time. This is why scholars of older lit don't get as huffy about "rules" as people who exclusively read new editions of books and new books. There actually are no rules, just standards.
and, further, on 2006-06-11 19:10:54.0, A White Bear commented:
I should say, that's the first edition as reported by the Wesleyan edition of the Works of Henry Fielding, edited by the incomparable editorial genius Fredson Bowers.
and, further, on 2006-06-11 19:15:02.0, ben wolfson commented:
Hey, all I wanted to know was if it were common or not. I just thought it was odd that the direct and indirect quotations were treated the same way, even though there are also indirect quotations without quotation marks.
(So the difference between the two editions is capitalization and a parenthetical?)
and, further, on 2006-06-11 19:15:52.0, A White Bear commented:
Also spelling errors that I'd hate to think you'd attribute to Fielding, who was an obsessive editor of his own work.
and, further, on 2006-06-11 19:16:51.0, A White Bear commented:
I'm sorry I got huffy about prescriptivism.
and, further, on 2006-06-11 19:19:20.0, ben wolfson commented:
Also spelling errors that I'd hate to think you'd attribute to Fielding, who was an obsessive editor of his own work.
It obviously was a spelling error, and I'd hate to think you thought I attributed it to Fielding.
and, further, on 2006-06-11 19:22:44.0, A White Bear commented:
Shake hands as friends all around.
Fielding is my one true love, and I'm drunk. I have no further excuses.
and, further, on 2006-06-12 16:20:59.0, Adam Kotsko commented:
AWB, You are so obviously a privileged white grad student.
and, further, on 2006-06-13 6:12:23.0, The Modesto Kid commented:
Ben -- in the quotation as you reproduce it, there is an open quote before "let", which does not appear to have any matching close quote. What gives?
and, further, on 2006-06-13 7:02:18.0, Matt Weiner commented:
The rule or standard is–still!–that if the quotation continues from one paragraph to the next, you don't put a close quote at the end of the first paragraph but do put an open quote at the beginning of the next paragraph. "To confess" is the beginning of a new paragraph that is part of the same wandering-between-direct-and-indirect quote, I think.
and, further, on 2006-06-13 10:13:02.0, The Modesto Kid commented:
Ah yes.
and, further, on 2006-06-13 16:01:29.0, A White Bear commented:
Funny, Kotsko.
and, further, on 2006-06-20 14:21:10.0, Kim commented:
Sorry to enter the conversation late. I was reminded of a relevant few paragraphs in the introduction to the Oxford World Classics paperback edition of Jane Austen's Persuasion (Claude Rawson, 1990). I'll try to excerpt some helpful sentences and I apologize for the lengthy comment; if you want to read more, you can find it in the Amazon online reader of the oxford edition, searching for "Augustan satirical mode".
Fielding is specifically mentioned with reference to the indirect report being used satirically, but not in the section on the use of quotation marks. Still, I think the comments seem relevant to the passage you cited. It seems it's not a common practice nor a lack of standards but rather a stylistic technique used for satiric effect. (At least, according to Rawson. Austen is only my hobby!)
"The trick" to such quotations, Rawson tells us, "is to report actual phrases used, but 'indirectly', so that the narration combines the voice and moral perspective of the original speaker with those of one or more reporting or narrating agents. The words within quotation marks are broadly to be taken as Sir Walter's, though the syntax and grammar (verb tenses, the pronoun 'he', etc.) indicate that he is not being quoted directly."
"[T]he impression emerges, not of an actual conversation faithfully recorded, but of a stylized anecdotal performance, bringing out the preposterous and the comically habitual, knowingly aware that all the usual sentiments were uttered in all the usual phrases."
"The report is a satirical one, as we have seen, but Lady Russell is not normally satirical in this manner in her own direct speech, and there is a sense that her report is itself reported by a subtly interfering authorial voice. The punctuation reinforces this indeterminacy. Sir Walter's phrases . . . are outside quotation marks . . . [b]ut they are similar to the phrases inside quotation marks, and might just as readily have appeared there, and the presence of the quotation marks does not preclude Lady Russell's input from being felt."
and, further, on 2006-06-20 21:32:53.0, ben wolfson commented:
Hey, thanks!