Why Do We Quote? : The Culture and History of Quotation

Quoting is all around us. But do we really know what it means? How do people actually quote today, and how did our present systems come about? This book brings together a down-to-earth account of contemporary quoting with an examination of the comparative and historical background that lies behind it and the characteristic way that quoting links past and present, the far and the near. Drawing from anthropology, cultural history, folklore, cultural studies, sociolinguistics, literary studies and the ethnography of speaking, Ruth Finnegan’s fascinating study sets our present conventions into crosscultural and historical perspective. She traces the curious history of quotation marks, examines the long tradition of quotation collections with their remarkable recycling across the centuries, and explores the uses of quotation in literary, visual and oral traditions. The book tracks the changing defi nitions and control of quoting over the millennia and in doing so throws new light on ideas such as ‘imitation’, ‘allusion’, ‘authorship’, ‘originality’ and ‘plagiarism’. Cover......Page 1 Title page......Page 5 Contents......Page 8 List of illustrations......Page 10 Preface......Page 12 Acknowledgements......Page 15 Abbreviations and Note on Sources......Page 18 I. SETTING THE PRESENT SCENE......Page 19 1. Prelude: A Dip in Quoting's Ocean......Page 21 2.1. 'Here and now'?......Page 31 2.2. What are people quoting today?......Page 33 2.3. Gathering and storing quotations......Page 51 3.1. Signalling quotation......Page 61 3.2. When to quote and how......Page 73 3.3. To quote or not to quote......Page 81 3.4. So why quote?......Page 92 II. BEYOND THE HERE AND NOW......Page 95 4. Quotation Marks: Present, Past, and Future......Page 97 4.1. What are quote marks and where did they come from?......Page 98 4.2. What do they mean?......Page 113 4.3. Do we need them?......Page 126 5. Harvesting Others' Words: The Long Tradition of Quotation Collections......Page 131 5.1. A present-day example: The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations......Page 132 5.2. Forerwmers in the written Western tradition......Page 138 5.3. Where did they come from?......Page 159 5.4. Why collect quotations?......Page 165 6. Quotation in Sight and Sound......Page 171 6.1. Quoting and writing - inseparable twins?......Page 172 6.2. The wealth of oral quotation......Page 177 6.3. Quoting blossoms in performance......Page 185 6.4. Music, script and image......Page 191 7. Arts and Rites of Quoting......Page 201 7.1.1 Narrative and its plural voices......Page 202 7.1.2 Poetry......Page 206 7.1.3 Exposition and rhetoric......Page 207 7.1.4 Ritual and sacred texts......Page 210 7.1.5 Play......Page 213 7.1.6 Displayed text......Page 215 7.2. An array of quoting arts......Page 216 7.3. How do the thousand flowers grow and who savours them?......Page 230 8. Controlling Quotation: The Regulation of Others' Words and Voices......Page 239 8.1. Who plants a.nd guards the flowers? Imitation, authorship and plagiarism......Page 241 8.2. Constraining and allowing quotation: flower or weed?......Page 250 8.3. The helds where quoting grows......Page 264 Ill. DISTANCE AND PRESENCE......Page 271 9. What Is Quotation and Why Do We Do It?......Page 273 9.1. So what is it?......Page 274 9.2. The far and near of quoting......Page 277 9.3. Why quote?......Page 282 Background to this study: citing the authorities......Page 285 Academics quoting......Page 297 Appendix 2. List of Mass Observation Writers......Page 305 References......Page 317 Index......Page 339 "Quoting is all around us. But do we really know what it means? How do people actually quote today, and how did our present systems come about? This book brings together a down-to-earth account of contemporary quoting with an examination of the comparative and historical background that lies behind it and the characteristic way that quoting links past and present, the far and the near. Drawing from anthropology, cultural history, folklore, cultural studies, sociolinguistics, literary studies and the ethnography of speaking, Ruth Finnegan's fascinating study sets our present conventions into cross-cultural and historical perspective. She traces the curious history of quotation marks, examines the long tradition of quotation collections with their remarkable recycling across the centuries, and explores the uses of quotation in literary, visual and oral traditions. The book tracks the changing definitions and control of quoting over the millennia and in doing so throws new light on ideas such as 'imitation', 'allusion', 'authorship', 'originality' and 'plagiarism'."--Publisher's website "This fascinating book examines the ways in which we quote today and the curious history of how quoting became part of our everyday lives. Quoting provides a link to our loved ones ("as my mother used to say ... "), to our religious and literary heritage, to past wisdom and to current attitudes. It can also be irritating, patronising, pedantic and, in some cases, illegal. Ruth Finnegan's meticulous study sheds new light on how quoting has been used in visual, oral and written traditions around the world. It is an enjoyable and engrossing read for anyone interested in language, culture and literature, and makes us rethink our ideas about originality, authorship and plagiarism"--Publisher's description