May 7, 2007

The Beauty of an Educated Exchange

VIVIAN: (To the audience) That was a witty little exchange, I must admit. It showed the mental acuity I would praise in a poetic text. But I admired only the studied application of wit, not its spontaneous eruption.
Margaret Edson W;t

There are several "witty little exchanges" that take place within the bounds of W;t. The one I liked best however, was the title, W;t. Not wit, but w;t.

I'm in favor of creative titles (I try to come up with my own - sometimes greeted with mild success, sometimes overlooked in favor of the more established authors.) Margaret Edson's choice inspired me. I'm not sure what in inspired me to do, but it inspired me nonetheless. The gimmick of semicolon in place of the letter i is an important aspect of the play's nature.

Vivian refers to the wit of the poetry that she analyzes; Edson refers to the wit of the play she has written. All this is done through the use of a single semicolon. That semicolon shows just how important punctuation is for the establishment of wit. (Truss would be proud.)

Posted by Diana Geleskie at May 7, 2007 4:12 PM | TrackBack
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