A Dash of Style: The Art and Mastery of Punctuation (Hardcover)

by Noah Lukeman (Author)
Key Phrases: punctuation world, solo dash, section breaks, Point There, Use Sparingly, Faulkner's Absalom (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
A Dash of Style has a gorgeously direct and confidently-clarified writing style. This is so rare. -- Ellen Cooney, author of A Private Hotel for Gentle Ladies

A Dash of Style is a delightful shift. I see genius at work here. -- Dr. Peggy Brown, Professor, Collin County Community College, Georgia

A page-turning book on the art of punctuation. It's a great resource for creative writers and teachers. -- Brian Ascalon Roley, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Miami University, Ohio, author of American Son

Clear and beautifully written....perfectly organized, conveys important but subtle truths...unique in perspective. -- Laura Oliver, Adjunct English Faculty, University of Maryland

I thought I knew everything there is to know about teaching punctuation. A Dash of Style taught me otherwise. -- Dr. Ervin Nieves, Department of English, Clarke College, Dubuque, Iowa

It is a terrific book. In fact, it's flawless. -- John Smolens, Professor of Creative Writing at the MFA Program at Northern Michigan University

It puts plunk down everything you need to know about punctuation in one place where you can find it. -- Carol Bly, writing teacher and author Beyond the Writers Workshop

Lukeman's wit and insight make this an instant classic. -- M.J. Rose, author of The Delilah Complex

Never condescends to or makes the reader feel stupid....wise, funny, entertaining....the highest praise you could offer such a book. -- Paul Cody, Professor in the Department of Writing at Ithaca College

Product Description
The first practical and accessible guide to the art of punctuation for creative writers.

Punctuation reveals the writer: haphazard commas, for example, reveal haphazard thinking; clear, lucid breaks reveal clear, lucid thinking. Punctuation can be used to teach the writer how to think and how to write. This short, practical book shows authors the benefits that can be reaped from mastering punctuation: the art of style, sentence length, meaning, and economy of words. There are full-length chapters devoted to the period, the comma, the semicolon, the colon, quotation marks, the dash and parentheses, the paragraph and section break, and a cumulative chapter on integrating them all into "The Symphony of Punctuation." Filled with exercises and examples from literary masters (Why did Poe and Melville rely on the semicolon? Why did Hemingway embrace the period?), A Dash of Style is interactive, highly engaging, and a necessity for creative writers as well as for anyone looking to make punctuation their friend instead of their mysterious foe.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton; 1 edition (April 25, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039306087X
• ISBN-13: 978-0393060874
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #532,446 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Marvelous Poetics of Punctuation -- The Most Unique Approach to Punctuation Ever!, June 24, 2006

By	Dr. Ervin Nieves - See all my reviews

I've taught literature and writing at Clarke College, The University of Iowa, and Rutgers University since 1993, and have reviewed a plethora of books on punctuation during this time. Mr. Lukeman's A DASH OF STYLE: THE ART AND MASTERY OF PUNCTUATION sets itself apart from every book on punctuation I've ever perused. Every page of Mr. Lukeman's book is filled with key insights on how punctuation can be used to create seminal emotional experiences in the minds and hearts of readers. Through countless examples, Mr. Lukeman teaches aspiring and accomplished writers the higher level uses of punctuation to express the full gamut of lived experiences. I cannot laud A DASH OF STYLE enough. It's strength is the many examples provided by Mr. Lukeman. He is a master teacher of writing, and I recommend all of his books wholeheartedly.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have For Creative Writers!, May 17, 2006

By	Gina L. Holmes "www.noveljourney.blogspot.com" (VA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a small, attractive book that you'll be thankful is hardback because you will be referencing it again and again.

With chapter titles like: Comma, or Period, I expected this book to be dreadfully tedious. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Mr. Lukeman has truly lived up to the promise he makes that this style guide is like none other. We are not only taught how to correctly use punctuation, but also how to maximize each mark to our work's fullest stylistic advantage.

I have already high-lighted my copy extensively and will continue to go back to it throughout my writing lifetime.

If you are a creative writer, from poetry to novel writing, this book is something you should have on your permanent reference shelf.

After reading this, I can't wait to get back to my novel and bravely use a colon, parenthesis or the occasional sentence strewn with commas, to make my prose sing. I have a new tool that will help me maximize my skills in a way I couldn't have without this help.

My highest recommendation!

32 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book; would be better if it were written for real writers, November 21, 2006

By	Kirk McElhearn "Computer book author and Fren... (A village in the French Alps) - See all my reviews

Noah Lukeman's latest book about punctuation fills an oft-ignored gap in the creative writing library, covering a part of writing that most people take for granted. After all, punctuation is not writing, right? Actually, it is writing; and Lukeman shows just how important punctuation is for good writing.

He claims that this book, like his previous ones, is written for creative writers, and most of the insights the book contains do help writers of fiction better understand punctuation. However, there is one major drawback: many of the examples he provides of incorrect usage are so exaggeratingly bad that few creative writers would ever have committed them. If he had included more realistic examples, this book would be a lot more useful. Certainly, the examples of _good_ usage are fine, many of them from published works. But the bad examples are worse than bad, something that most writers would never pen.

Nevertheless, the value of this book is quite apparent when you start looking at your own work and realizing that you have far more options than you may have considered. Most writers don't have any inkling of how to use the semi-colon, for example; yet it is one of the most powerful squiggles on the page. As for periods, most authors think they are just for separation--Lukeman shows how creative period usage can change rhythm and tone through varying sentence length. As for the comma, well, that's a tough one for many authors, and it gets good treatment here.

All in all, this is certainly worth the money, but I don't think it will help bad writers write better. It will, however, help anyone who knows how to write add the subtle effects of punctuation to their existing palette of colors.