Comment of the Day

James Joyce: Master of the Well-Placed Colon

AP
David Wagner 1,749 Views Sep 24, 2012

In celebration of National Punctuation Day, one of our commenters noted James Joyce's playful use of the colon​. Will Berlin writes

One of my all-time favorite uses of the colon is from Ulysses. The line is, "The felly harshed against the curbstone: stopped." What a beautiful thing to have done, to have transformed the colon into the curbstone and have our mind's eye harsh against it. Punctuation is wonderful.

It's funny how two little dots can stop the flow of your reading dead in its tracks. The way punctuation works on the minds is pretty wonderful. 

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at dwagner at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.

Elsewhere on the Web

User Comments

Please type your comment and click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be prompted to log in or register

  • The Atlantic Wire on Twitter
  • The Atlantic Wire RSS Feed
  • The Atlantic Wire iPhone App