In the late War between the French and the Confederate Armies, there were two BROTHERS, who had acquir’d more than ordinary Reputation, under the Command of the great and intrepid LUXEMBOURG h. But the Conclusion of the Peace taking away any further Occasions shewing their Valour, the Eldest of ‘em, whose Name was COUNT D’ELMONT, return’d to PARIS, from whence he had been absent two Years, leaving his Brother at St. OMER’S, ‘til the Cure of some light Wounds were perfected.
Several things pop immediately to mind upon reading this opening paragraph of the text. The most obvious, of course, is that readers everywhere should set aside one minute every day to observe according to their custom and give thanks to the gods of literature that rules of capitalization have been applied to the art of novel-writing since its earliest days. At the time of publication, the novel was still pretty much the punk rock of literature and as a result it played by its own rules except that it still resembled the classic rock which paved the way, meaning poetry. Poetry throughout the ages is filled with unusual choices in capitalization and this paragraph really looks more like a poem restructured into a work of prose than it resembles the opening paragraph of any novel today. Once one works their way past trying to figure exactly why “brothers” should be in all caps and “reputation” and “command” should be capitalized despite being in the middle of a sentence, the second thing should automatically pop into mind. The opening is telling the reader that the story is going to be about two brothers, but really it is just going to be about one of the, Count D’elmont.
As they were in this endearing, tho’ mournful Entertainment, the matchless Melliora enter’d, the Surprize and Grief for her Father’s Indisposition (having heard of it bus since she came into the House) hindered her from regarding any thing but him, and throwing herself on her Knees by the Bedside, wash’d the Hand which he stretch’d out to raise her with, in a flood of Tears, accompany’d with Expressions, which, unstudy’d and incoherent as they were, had a delicacy in ‘em, that show’d her Wit not inferior to her Tenderness and that no Circumstance cou’d render her otherwise than the most lovely Person in the World…
Point 1: this paragraph is about Melliora who becomes Count D’elmont’s true love. And why wouldn’t she be; after all she is “the most lovely person in the world.” Point 2: the distracting and inexplicable deal with the punctuation is not limited to the opening paragraph. It is, in fact, the style of the entire book, but there is good news for those whom it is simply too distracting: one can buy versions in which the capitalization has been rendered readable through application of modern convention and rules. Unfortunately, removing that particular distraction does not make sentences—and yes, this is not just one sentence, but is actually one part of a sentence. In fact, it is actually just the middle part of sentence. And there is very little that can be done through editing to make it any less complicated to follow. The meaning of any given sentence in this text is not difficult to comprehend but getting to that meaning is a difficult task of apprehension.
Why should what we can’t avoid be call’d a Crime? Be Witness for me Heaven! How much I have struggl’d with this rising Passion, even to Madness struggl’d!
The important structural thing to notice here is that though this is forwarded as a statement by the character, it doesn’t feature quotation marks. In fact, one can exhaustively search for quotation marks attributed to what seems to be dialogue in the novel and be disappointed. What passes for dialogue is often really just a monologue and not even a spoken monologue, but an interior monologue. The rules and conventions of novel-writing had yet to be codified when the author composed the book, but what really makes reading it remarkable is how the actual writing style resembles 20th century Modernist stream-of-consciousness fiction. For the record: the story pursues themes of rules about love and sexuality and how one can be expected to come under attack for violating them.
Oh D’elmont, cease, cease to Charm, to such a height—Life cannot bear these Raptures…O! too, too lovely Count—Extatick Ruiner!
Again, these lines are forwarded as spoken as dialogue. The difference this time is that it is not even an interior monologue nor is Melliora simply thinking to herself since she addresses the Count by name. Except that the Count in this case is appearing to her in a dream in which her desires could be unleashed in a way not possible in the waking world. The novel’s theme of sexuality and feminine expression of such is explored through the fact that even within the safety of her dreams, Melliora’s natural passions are still being repressed by societal pressure: in between her beseeching that he stop kissing her and her giving into the lovely Count is an embrace. The conscious willingness to reject her natural desires gives way to the unconscious want which cannot be betrayed so easily.
