Barthesian demon

[j4]

This was received by webmaster (presumably intended for the department that actually does a creative writing course):

I was thinking about doing your creative writing course but can't afford the fees.

However I should be grateful if you could let me know the origin of the word "writerly". When I was at school you took an adjective and added 'ly' to make an adverb. Writer though is a noun.

Have the rules changed?

Well, obviously I was delighted; it's not often my Eng. Lit. background actually becomes directly relevant in answering the enquiries which webmaster receives. So I had a lovely response prepared about how critical theoreticians probably didn't feel themselves bound by the rules one learns at school, and that while you may regard lisible and scriptible as risible neologisms, "readerly" and "writerly" seem entirely reasonable translations of them, and that in any case Barthes was sadly unavailable to debate the point, having ended his discourse of the Death of the Author with uncharacteristically unstructuralist closure by falling fatally under a laundry van in early 1980. But sadly, a) I was discouraged from sending it, and b) on closer inspection it turned out that they were actually using "writerly" in the context of "writerly support", ie "support from writers", so I'm afraid morally I may be forced to side with the pompous have-your-sayer who can't tell the difference between a Creative Writing department and a Computing department.

Anyway, I forwarded the email to the right people.

Comments

[tla]

Pity. I would love the image of "send mail to Oxford Webmaster, get an English lit response directly back". On the other hand I guess you might run the risk of webmaster@ turning into a Q&A column.

[j4.livejournal.com]

I sometimes wish we had a general-purpose "pedantry" role address, which anybody in the University with time on their hands could answer. Then I remember that's what oxnet was for.

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

I'm now distracted by the OED's history of the -ly forms. It's got separate entries for adj+"ly" => adv. and noun+"ly" => adj. I'm wondering whether I can justify this as relevant to my work.

Dear Burj Al Arab Hotel:

[monkeyhands.livejournal.com]

I was thinking about staying in one of your rooms for a few nights, but I can't afford those prices! However, I should be grateful if you could let me know the origin of the word "Dubai". When I was at school, we learnt that "du" means "of the" when applied to a masculine noun. Does this mean that Dubai is the land of the Bai people? However, the Bai people include both masculine and feminine people, which is how they manage to breed.

Have the rules changed?

[j4.livejournal.com]

Dear Sir,

I'm afraid the rules have changed, partly due to pressure from Durham City Council who were tired of being asked what "rham" was and having to explain that it was what you ate with reggs and rchips. You wouldn't get that sort of nonsense under the Imperial system, I can tell you.

Yours,
Brigadier-General Branes (Mrs)

[emperor]

This post cheered me up this morning while the gas-men were proclaiming doom. Thank you :)

[simont]

Presumably this person had never encountered the word "fatherly"?

[htfb.livejournal.com]

Or "broccoli"

[j4.livejournal.com]

*giggle*

[j4.livejournal.com]

Good point. OED gives the first attestation of "fatherly" in this sense as being from over 1000 years ago...

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

"scholarly" came to mind, too :)

[j4.livejournal.com]

See, now I want to construct a reply* to them which uses every -ly word I can think of.

* meaning "like a rep"

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

Do it!

The -ly¹ OED entry notes that the same construction gives forms like "goodly", "lovely", and "daily", as well as the more obvious "kingly", "beastly", "womanly", and so on.

[redbird]

That would be a friendly deed.

[nja.livejournal.com]

"Painterly" was the one that came to my mind - "writerly", by analogy, would mean writing where the technique was at the forefront. Nabokov, maybe.

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

Apply yourself to it forthwith!

I hope the original author came from Ely...

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

You see, this shows the hierarchy of language: nounes, adjectives, adverbs. '-ly' as a suffix moves the word to the next layer.

When out of control, it also gives rise to the horrible lily words: 'She did it lovelily'.

Loverly jubberly

[barnacle.livejournal.com]

I never knew about Barthes. Is it worth saying "death of the lather" at this point?

[cleanskies.livejournal.com]

That's such an archetypal webmaster experience!

[j4.livejournal.com]

:-) Do you reckon there's a market for a little book of hilarious webmaster anecdotes, maybe timed to come out around Christmas? Or is it just a bit too, well, niche?

[cleanskies.livejournal.com]

bwahahahaha

[clubhopper15.livejournal.com]

Hi, hope you don't mind me adding you (came across you in the oxonians group). I noticed that you studied English at Oxford. I will hopefully be off to Wadham in October to study English, so thought it would be interesting to read your LJ.