Chapter 1 of The Elements of Style

The Elements of Style is perhaps one of the widely cited and referenced books dedicated to analyzing the craft of grammar and punctuation. Its integrity and popularity may derive from the fact that it was co-authored by acclaimed children's author, E.B. White (Stuart Little) or the simple fact that it is a commendable and brilliantly compiled compendium of grammar. Regardless of the reason, the reference book is admired and read by many.

In the first chapter, we learn a variety of important guidelines. In the first section, we learn the elementary rules of usage. We learn the correct way to form the possessive singular of nouns with 's, we learn to use a comma after each term in a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, how to enclose parenthetic expressions between commas, how and why to place a comma before and or but when introducing an independent clause, and much much more.

We also learn the proper composition of sentences. For instance, the book asserts the reader never to break a sentence into two. In other words, we are encouraged not to use periods as commas. Also, we learn never to join an independent clause with a comma.

Despite the many rules and regulations the book explores, the text is uncomplicated and very straight-forward, making the information extremely accessible to any reader.

An Excerpt from William S. Burroughs' NAKED LUNCH

Perhaps one of the most controversial and widely lambasted American novels of the 20th century was beatnik author William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch. The piece is a non-linear collection of vignettes that concentrate on the exploits of drug addict, William Lee. Most readers denounced the work as loathsome and repugnant with its explicit depictions of the otherwise unnatural. Despite the criticism, the book garnered a small cult following and maintained public interest throughout the years.

Although the text was once thought to be completely impossible to translate into film form, acclaimed director David Cronenberg delivered the film adaptation of Burroughs' work to the public and was met with critical praise. Here is a trailer for the film:

Below is one of my favorite excerpts from the book. Despite the gruesome and somewhat shocking subject matter, note Burroughs' dark sense of humor that effectively captivates and enthralls the reader.

“Did I ever tell you about the man who taught his asshole to talk? His whole abdomen would move up and down, you dig, farting out the words. It was unlike anything I ever heard.  Bubbly, thick, stagnant sound.  A sound you could smell. This man worked for the carnival,you dig? And to start with it was like a novelty ventriloquist act. After a while, the ass started talking on its own. He would go in without anything prepared... and his ass would ad-lib and toss the gags back at him every time.  Then it developed sort of teethlike... little raspy incurving hooks and started eating. He thought this was cute at first and built an act around it... but the asshole would eat its way through his pants and start talking on the street...  shouting out it wanted equal rights. It would get drunk, too, and have crying jags. Nobody loved it. And it wanted to be kissed, same as any other mouth. Finally, it talked all the time, day and night. You could hear him for blocks, screaming at it to shut up...  beating at it with his fists...  and sticking candles up it, but... nothing did any good, and the asshole said to him...  "It is you who will shut up in the end, not me... "because we don't need you around here anymore. I can talk and eat and shit." After that, he began waking up in the morning with transparentjelly... Mlike a tadpole's tail all over his mouth. He would tear it off his mouth and the pieces would stick to his hands...  like burning gasoline jelly and grow there. So, finally, his mouth sealed over...  and the whole head...  would have amputated spontaneously except for the eyes, you dig? That's the one thing that the asshole couldn't do was see. It needed the eyes. Nerve connections were blocked... and infiltrated and atrophied. So, the brain couldn't give orders anymore. It was trapped inside the skull... sealed off. For a while, you could see... the silent, helpless suffering of the brain behind the eyes. And then finally the brain must have died...  because the eyes went out... and there was no more feeling in them than a crab's eye at the end of a stalk.”

- William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch

Chapter 3 of The Copyeditor's Handbook

The third chapter of The Copyeditor's Handbook summarizes and explores the various resources with which most copyeditors use in order to assist in their systematic process of editing a manuscript. Four of the most essential books that the book stresses all copyeditors use include, dictionaries, style manuals, thesauruses, and usage guides. Although the chapter stresses that the volume of a copyeditor's reference shelf will drastically vary depending on the types of material he or she copyedits, the book insists that these for aforementioned works are essential to any copyeditor.

 

What I found most extraordinary was the level of subjectivity in the field of copyediting. Although I knew very little of the subject to begin with, I always assumed that there would be very stringent, non-negotiable texts and procedures that all editors have to follow. This chapter seems to stress the opposite as most of the materials needed for editing depends on the company for whom the editor has been hired. It seems as though every company has their own sets of guidelines and, therefore, there is a vast differentiation between companies of what is considered acceptable and unacceptable. In short, there seems to be no definitive list of copyediting rules (with regard to capitalization, hyphenation, punctuation and other random literary idiosyncrasies). Although the chapter seems to stress that the Chicago Manual of Style is the preferred manual of choice by most editors, they go on to suggest the discrepancies between that particular book and other resources on the subject.

 

Despite the inconsistency between texts and how certain once well practiced standards become obsolete after time, I respond well to the consistency that's shared among all copyeditors when revising a manuscript. The chapter stresses the importance of a copyeditor's focus on clarity, coherency, correctness, and consistency. Although there may be slight variations in standards in editing, the method by which all copyeditors achieve the ultimate success is the same.