Why Do We Quote? The Culture and History of Quotation

346 Pages·2011·46.21 MB·English

by  Ruth Finnegan

Ruth Finnegan is Visiting [{esearch Professor imd Emeritus Profl'Ssor in the
Faculty of Social Sciences at the Open University. She was elected a Fellow
of the British Academy in 1996 ilnd iln Hon. Fellow of Somerville College
Oxford in 1997; and was awarded an OBE for services to Sod..1Sciences in
2000. Her publications include Lilllba Stories alld Slur}l-Telling 1967, 1981;
Oral Literature in Africa, 1970; Mode:; ofThought (ioint ed.), 1973; Oral Poetry,
1977, 1992); lllfirrmation Technology: Sodallssues (joint ed.), 1987; Utl'racy
alld Orality: Studies ill tile Tee/m%gy of Communicatioll, 1988; Tire Hidde/l
MU$iciarl:;: Music-Making ill an E'lg/isll '7<l1on, 1989 and 2007; Ora/ Traditions
,md the Verbal Arts, 1992; SOllth Pacific Oral TraditilJ!l_5 Goint ed.), 1995; Tab
of the City: A Study of Narrative and Urban Life, 1998; Communicating: The
Multiple Modes ofHI/mml Interconnection, 2002: Parflcipatillg i,1 the Knowledge
Sociel.l( Re:;eare/leys Be.l/ond Ihe UIll'"eysil.y WaJt.. (ed.), 200S; Th,. Oral ,wd
Bl'yond: Doing Things wilh Words in Africa, 2007.

Ruth Finnegan
Why Do We Quote?
The Culture and History of Quotation
Cambridge
OpenBookM
~
Publishers
2011
OpenBook
iI1Y11l
Publishers~
Open Book Publishers ClC lid.,
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@2011 Ruth Finnegan
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OW1I,
all those ofmyfamily, past and }JYesent.
Contents
Preface XI
Acknowledgements XIV
Abbreviations and Note on Sources XVII
I. SETTING THE PRESENT SCENE
1. Prelude: A Dip in Quoting's Ocean 3
2. Tastes ofthe Present: The Here and Now ofQuoting 13
2.1. 'Here and now'? 13
2.2. What are people quotingtoday? IS
2.3. Gathering and storingquotations 33
3. Putting Others' Words on Stage: Arts and Ambiguities of
Today's Quoting 43
3.1. Signalling quotation 43
3.2. Whento quote and how 55
3.3. To quote ornotto quote 63
3.4. So why quote? 74
11. BEYOND THE HERE AND NOW 77
4. Quotation Marks: Present, Past, and Future 79
4.1. What are quote marks and where didthey come from? 80
4.2. What do theymean? 95
4.3. Do we needthem? 108
5. Harvesting Others' Words: The Long Tradition ofQuotation
Collections 113
5.1. A presentday example: The OxfordDictionary of
Quotations 114
5.2. Forerunners inthe written Westerntradition 120
5.3. Where didthey come from? 141
5.4. Why collect quotations? 147
V111 WhyDo We Quote?
6. Quotation in Sight and Sound 153
6.1. Quoting and writing - inseparable twins? 154
6.2. The wealth oforal quotation 159
6.3. Quoting blossoms in performance 167
6.4. Music, script and image 173
7. Arts and Rites ofQuoting 183
7.1 Frames fot others' words and voices 184
7.1.1. Narrative and its plural voices 184
7.1.2. Poetry 188
7.1.3. Exposition and rhetoric 189
7.1.4. Ritual and sacredtexts 192
7.1.5. Play 195
7.1.6. Displayedtext 197
7.2. An array ofquoting arts 198
7.3. How do the thousand flowers grow and who savours
them? 212
8. ControllingQuotation: The Regulation ofOthers' Words and
Voices 221
8.1.Who plants and guards the flowers? Imitation, authorship,
and plagiarism 223 223
8.2. Constraining and allowing quotation: flower orweed? 232
8.3. The fields where quoting grows 246
Ill. DISTANCE AND PRESENCE 253
9. What Is Quotation and Why Do We Do It? 255
9.1. So what is it? 256
9.2. The far and near ofquoting 259
9.3. Why quote? 264
Appendix 1. Quotingthe Academics 267
Backgroundto this study: citingthe authorities 267
Academics quoting 279
Appendix 2. Ust ofthe Mass Observation Writers 287
References 299
Index 321
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Fig. 1.1 'Ifit weren't for the last minute.. ' 3
Fig. 1.2 'Dadturns out all right' 4
Fig. 1.3 Warmemorial, Church Green Road, B1elch1ey, November 2009 6
Fig. 1.4 Graveyard quoting 8
Fig. 2.1 Example ofextractfrom a Mass Observer comment 16
Fig. 2.2 An 85 year-old widow's quoting 20
Fig. 2.3 Sayings in 'ourcircle offriends' 30
Fig. 2.4 A large collection of quotation books 39
Fig. 3.1 '1 Was suddenlyconscious ofthe quote marks' 47
Fig. 4.1 New EnglishBible: Matthew, Chapter21, verses 1-6 81
Fig. 4.2RevisedStandardBible :Matthew, Chapter21, verses 1-6 82
Fig. 4.3 Reina Va1era Bible (Spanish), web version: Matthew,
Chapter21, verses 1-6 82
Fig. 4.4HolyBibleKingJames Version: Matthew,
Chapter21, verses 1-6 83
Fig. 4.5 New Testament (Greek), London, 1885 :Matthew,
Chapter21, verses 1-5 83
Fig. 4.6 TheNew Testament, translated into English by William Tynda1e,
Worms, 1526: Matthew, Chapter21, verses 1-6 84
Fig. 4.7 The Bible andHoly Scriptures Conteinedin the Olde andNewe
Testament, Geneva 1560 :Matthew, Chapter21, verses 1-7 85
Fig. 4.8 Dip1e marks in an 8th century manuscript: Bede's, Commentary on
Proverbs 87
Fig. 4.9 Scriba1 citation marks, 7thto 9th centuries AD 88
Fig. 4.10 Laurence Sterne, Yorick's SentimentalJourney, Dublin, 1769 91
Fig. 4.11 The Crisis ofthe Sugar Colonies, London, 1802 93