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IntegratingQuotationsfromWorksofFiction.pdf

George Mason University Writing Center Robinson Hall A114

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Integrating Quotations from a Work of Fiction Introducing Quotes When introducing quotations from a literary work, make sure that you don’t confuse the work’s author with the narrator of the story, the speaker of a poem, or a character in a play. Instead of naming the author, you can refer to the narrator or speaker—or to the work itself.

INAPPROPRIATE Author Ernest Hemingway describes his feeling of loneliness like this: “What did he fear? It was not fear or dread. It was nothing that he knew too well” (56). APPROPRIATE In describing the waiter’s feeling upon leaving the café, the narrator makes the waiter’s sense of loneliness evident to the reader: “What did he fear? It was not fear or dread. It was nothing that he knew too well” (56). APPROPRIATE The story “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” says as much about fleeting time and death as it does about loneliness. Its most powerful lines may be “What did he fear? It was not fear or dread. It was nothing that he knew too well” (56). (In the last example, you could of course mention the author as well: Hemingway’s story “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” says as much…. Although the author is mentioned, he is not being confused with the narrator of the story.)

Using Quotes Within Quotes In writing about literature, you may sometimes want to use a quotation with another quotation embedded in it— when you are quoting dialogue in a novel or short story, for example. In such cases, set off the main quotation with double quotation marks, as you usually would, and set off the embedded quotation with single quotation marks. The following example from a student paper quotes lines from Amy Tan’s novel The Hundred Secret Senses:

Early in the novel the narrator’s half-sister Kwan sees—or thinks she sees—the ghosts: “’Libby-ah,’ she’ll say to me. ‘Guess who I see yesterday, you guess.’ And I don’t have to guess she’s talking about someone dead” (3).

Formatting Longer Quotes If a quotation from a short story or a novel is four typed lines or longer, set it off from the text by indenting one inch (or ten spaces) from the left margin; when you set a quotation off from the text, you should not use quotation marks around it. Put the page number in parentheses after the final mark of punctuation.

Sister’s tale begins with “I,” and she makes every event revolve around herself, even her sister’s marriage:

I was getting along fine with Mama, Papa-Daddy, and Uncle Rondo until my sister Stella-Rondo just separated from her husband and came back home again. Mr. Whitaker! Of course I went with Mr. Whitaker first, when he first appeared here in China Grove, taking “Pose Yourself” photos, and Stella- Rondo broke us up. (46)

Referring to Authors and Titles The first time you make reference to authors, refer to them by their first and last names: Virginia Woolf was one of England’s most important novelists. In subsequent references, use their last names only: Woolf’s early work was largely overlooked. As a rule, do not use titles such as Mr. or Ms. or Dr. Titles of short stories are put in quotation marks: “The Dead” by James Joyce; “The Death of the Moth” by Virginia Woolf; “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien. Titles of novels are underlined or italicized: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad; Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey

Referring to Characters and Events Refer to each character by the name most often used for him or her in the work. If, for instance, a character’s name is Lambert Strether and he is always referred to as “Strether,” do not call him “Lambert” or “Mr. Strether.” When describing fictional events of a work of literature, use the present tense: “Octavia demands blind obedience from James and from all of her children. When James and Ty catch two birds in their trap, they want to play with them; Octavia, however, has other plans for the birds.”

Referring to Parts of Works Be as accurate as possible when referring to subdivisions of a literary work. Avoid using phrases like “the part where.” Instead give specific references by using the appropriate descriptive terms: the final paragraph, the scene in which Hamlet confronts his mother, the passage that refers to Jane Austen, and so on.

Some of the examples above are from Writing About Literature: Supplement to Accompany A Writer’s Reference (4th ed.), by Diana Hacker.

Last updated 6/10/14