Gary Egan
WORDS ABOUT WORDS
Far from being vulgar or frivolous or both, wordplay is a complex literary device permitting a richer response to language. Skillfully deployed, the pun does not bandy words, but bandages together (it arises, after all, from a linguistic accident) disparate meanings. Its vivacious, sometimes pugnacious presence warns the reader against taking the text at face value.
—Gary Egan, "Wordplay" from Verbatim, Erin McKean ed., 2001
Posted on October 30, 2000 at 5:32 PM
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