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TONER, ANNE. Ellipsis in English Literature: Signs of Omission. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015. x + 255 pp. $95.00 hardcover.
Despite its brevity (170 pages of text, 85 pages of end matter), Ellipsis in English Literature is actually two books: first, a history of ellipsis as chronicled in grammar and rhetoric books from the sixteenth through the twentieth century; second, an application to literary works, exploring how writers have used the available punctuations of "hesitations, interruptions and omissions" (1). The first book is perhaps most useful, because few readers know the history she uncovers, whereas most will recognize that her study casts minimal new light on the texts she writes about, usually just reinforcing what has long been thought. Still, some important observations on Richardson, Meredith, and Woolf make this book well worth the author's effort and the reader's attention.
Toner early establishes several fundamental points around which her study will revolve: ellipsis can be represented by dots (points), dashes, asterisks, hyphens; it can be used to imitate speech; because it is a "lack," it necessarily involves the reader; and because it serves to indicate unfinished thoughts, ellipsis may be thought of as "a sign of linguistic failure...or artistry," of "depth...or banality" (6). In that the novel evolves toward interiority, ellipsis becomes more and more important as a marker: "the intrinsic difficulty of conveying a non-verbalized internal state is expressed typographically by the ellipsis..." (13).
The relationship to speech necessitates the opening chapter's focus on printed drama: "print" is here as important as "drama" because print...