Why Do We Quote? The Culture and History of Quotation

I  SETTING THE PRESENT SCENE 

[Introductory; case study/ies of present practices]

1. Prelude: a dip in quoting’s ocean

A short dip into my own personal encounter with quoting/quotation in study, home and street to introduce examples and issues gently, and hopefully relate in an accessible and engaging way to readers’ similar (or contrasting) encounters. 3-4 illustrations of visually displayed quotations.

2. Tastes of the present: the here and now of quoting

This and the following chapter lay out the major case study which the later chapters take as their point of departure. Building on the tradition of the ethnography of speaking and writing, they track how quoting is in practice utilized, signalled and regarded among present-day users in (mainly) south central England in the early 21^st century. It is based both on personal participant observation and (extensively) on comments and reflections by some two hundred volunteer commentators from a panel who write regularly for the Mass Observation Archive (University of Sussex). They exemplify and discuss their quoting from so-called ‘official’ quotations (like Shakespeare, the Bible or classic literary works), to proverbs, songs, family sayings, personal conversations or the latest catchwords from TV shows. The more comparative and historical chapters of Part II are thus illuminated not only by the practices reported by these commentators but also by the insights, emotions and personal engagements that they convey, and the (sometimes unexpected) issues they raise. 4 illustrations

            ‘Here and now’?

            What are people quoting today?

            Gathering and storing quotations 

3. Putting others’ words on stage: arts and ambiguities of today’s quoting

Continues the case study of the previous chapter, raising further issues and complexities. 1 illustration

            Signalling quotation

            When to quote and how

            To quote or not to quote

            So why quote?

II  BEYOND THE HERE AND NOW

[digging into some historical and comparative background to put Part I’s findings in perspective]

4. Quotation marks present, past, and future

Quotations marks, easy just to take for granted, have a more complex and varied history than usually realised, one which to an extent shapes our usages – and puzzles - today. The chapter notes the huge variety of quote signals, with their inconsistencies and uncertainties (several already noted by the British commentators of chapter 3), and starts from one specific example (a passage from the New Testament) to illustrate some of the differences over the years. It then goes back to explore the early origins and development of our present system, starting with the Greek arrow-shaped diple and tracing its development and changing usages over many centuries, not least the contrasting approaches to what was meant by quoting and whose words counted. Later developments in the European novel added to the complexity, with the intermingling of ‘direct’ and ‘indirect’ speech and recognition of ‘free indirect speech’. Far from being neutral graphic symbols, the signalling of ‘quotation’, in its various senses, links into changing ideologies and debates about the social and cosmic order, the nature of ‘originality’, and what it is to be a human being. 10-11 illustrations (especially important in this chapter)

            What are quote marks and where did they come from?

            What do they mean?

            Do we need them?

5. Harvesting others’ words: the long tradition of quotation collections

Collections of quotations rather seldom figure in the histories of literature, yet humans have compiled and valued them for millennia, dating back to Sumerian proverb collections in ancient Mesopotamia. Here is a different strand in the treatment of others’ words which carves them out decisively, complementing the strategy of marking them by quotation signals within a longer text. This chapter again starts with one particular example – the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, the iconic collection most frequently mentioned by the British commentators – then goes back through earlier collections to exemplify the changes, contrasts and continuities, focusing mainly on four mini-case studies: Macdonnel’s A Dictionary of Quotations in Most Frequent Use. Taken from the Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, and Italian Languages; Translated into English (1797 with many later editions and pirated copies, in both Europe and America); the successive editions of Erasmus’ famous Adages from 1500 onwards, of (eventually) over 4000 quotations from classical Greek and Latin authors, a best seller for centuries; Thomas of Ireland’s Manipulus florum in the early 14^th century, ordered with amazing efficiency as source book for preachers; and Cato’s Distichs, a collection of Latin moralistic epigrams, probably from the 3^rd-4^th century AD and still a school text in the 18^th century. The popularity and longevity of such collections is remarkable, so too is the striking continuity of certain quotations, repeated down the centuries as compilers mined their predecessors: a long tradition lay behind the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. 8 illustrations to exemplify layout and title pages etc.

            A present-day example: The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations

            Forerunners in the written western tradition

            Where did they come from?

            Why collect quotations?

6. Quotation in sight and sound

So far the examples have focused on written forms, but this chapter raises the question of whether quotation necessarily depends on writing (as some have argued) and illustrates how others’ words and voices can be and are drawn on in oral settings and can be enhanced in performance, sometimes in notably complex ways. Musical quotation is discussed briefly, followed by a more extensive account of pictorial dimensions such as the role of calligraphy and image in staging quotation, the books of illustrated proverbs popular since at least the 15^th century, and the famous proverb pictures by Brueghel and other Dutch painters. 6 or 7 illustrations, specially important for the final section.

            Quoting and writing – inseparable twins?

            The wealth of oral quotation

            Quoting blossoms in performance

            Music, script and image

7. Arts and rites of quoting

Quotation, imitation, tradition, allusion, model, reminiscence – these are recurrent themes in the study of literature, of ritual and of culture. But they are differently defined, practised and recognised in differing settings, and many differing if related terms are drawn on by both practitioners and analysts. This chapter sketches some of the many ways others’ words and voices have been richly and subtly drawn on, under varying headings, in such frameworks as narrative, rhetoric, exposition, ‘poetry’, ritual, and play. This is further illustrated through a range of specific examples, from Virgilian epic and the long-lived Japanese waka poetry where old material is lovingly re-used in living poetry over the centuries, to south Slavic ‘oral-formulaic’ epic, twentieth-century Ghanaian novelists, Yoruba praise chants, Kuna oratory, the quotation-drenched genre of contemporary academic writing, T. S. Eliot, and the lyrics of Bob Dylan. The shifting and elusive boundaries of what counts as quoting in some or all of its many senses, and the changing yet overlapping practices and interpretations over the centuries help to explain why many people – including the Mass Observation commentators – are both actively engaged in this deeply creative set of human practices and uncertain about just how to interpret or define it. 3 illustrations

            Frames for others’ words and voices

            An array of quoting arts

            How do the thousand flowers grow and who savours them?

8. Controlling quotation: the social regulation of others’ words and voices

Quoting is not always approved, or not in all situations (there were unexpectedly strong sentiments on this among the Mass Observation commentators): like any other powerful human activity it is socially controlled and shaped. This chapter traces (briefly) some key historical developments relating to such concepts and practices as ownership, imitation, copyright, and plagiarism, together with the varying social patterns and arguments (and in some cases contradictions) over who is allowed or not allowed to quote, from what authorities, how, to whom and in what circumstances – and how far this is or should be affected by changing technologies. The topic remains highly controversial – quoting is too mighty a force, it seems, to be allowed to run free - and continues to arouse passionate debate today. 3-4 illustrations

            Who plants and guards the flowers? Imitation, authors and plagiarism

            Constraining and allowing quotation: who and how?

            What is a flower, what a weed? 

III  DISTANCE AND PRESENCE

9. What is quotation and why do we do it?

This first returns to the opening example (the English ‘here and  now’) – one particular case, culturally and historically specific, but not only in itself heterogeneous but also with conventions in part shaped by earlier historical traditions. Goes on to discuss the difficult issues of the identification and characteristics of using others’ words and voices, the dual nature of quotation (past and present; here and distant/absent; one’s own and not one’s own). and of why, eventually, humans quote

            So what is it?

            The far and near of human texts and voices

            Why quote? 

Appendix: Quoting the academics

This has two functions: 1) a bit of the obligatory scholarly referencing and abstraction (thus making it possible to bypass this in the introductory chapters), at the same time as 2) exemplifying this genre of writing / quoting: a heavy use of others’ words but with the current author’s scholarly voice both distancing and claiming them; also additionally 3) some further details about the Mass Observation commentators of Chapters 2 and 3 (probably with a list as Appendix 2)