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Pedants' corner

Thread for discussing boring copy-editorial matters

7 replies

Threadworm · 03/03/2008 11:22

He doesn't re-quote the lines. It's just that he sometimes discusses the excerpts in the text below the epigraph. The convention generally is that epigraphs merely ornament the book, and are not strictly 'part' of it. So if the quotation is subsequently discussed '('In these lines Proust reminds us that lying in bed all day ...) the discussion is violating the proper role of an epigraph and behaving as if it were a standard extract.

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policywonk · 03/03/2008 11:27

Sorry thready, went to do some RL stuff

I think I agree with you - would style as excerpt and violate the no-discussion convention. HOWEVER, this isn't the sort of book I normally work on so I might be talking nonsense...

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Threadworm · 03/03/2008 11:33

Thank's v much for replying wonk.

Yes. Think will treat them as epigraphs. Probably no one else will think twice about it.

Might be useful having in this thread around in future.

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PeatBog · 03/03/2008 11:34

I see I see. Yes, try to persuade him that it's not really an epigraph, but an intrinsic part of his argument, so needs to be proper part of text, not an ornament.

I would therefore want to style them as straightforward extracts, but would also want to tuck them into the main text a bit more, under an introductory sentence or something.

If he doesn't want to play, you could compromise by just styling them as extracts.