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In these modern times of ours, the word literally has taken on a new meaning, which is "not literally but with emphasis." This seems like the most likely explan
by readams 10mo ago
In these modern times of ours, the word literally has taken on a new meaning, which is "not literally but with emphasis." This seems like the most likely explanation.
- EdwardCoffin 10mo agoEven if that's the intended meaning of literally, it is still a reckless exaggeration. I'm pretty sure that Stephenson's endings are no more abrupt than some of Shakespeare's (check out Hamlet and Macbeth) or some of Frank Herbert's (see Dune and Children of Dune), and I never hear anyone go out of their way to describe either of them as being unable to write endings.
- disgruntledphd2 10mo ago> some of Frank Herbert's (see Dune and Children of Dune), I mean, Dune does in fact end mid-story, which is probably worse.
- jeremyjh 10mo agoNo, no it doesn't. Are you talking about the recent movies that split the first novel into two movies? The novel Dune ends after Paul defeats his enemies and becomes emperor.
- disgruntledphd2 10mo agoThe Dune series has six novels, the final one is Chapter House Dune, which does in fact end mid story. I know this because I read them in the 90s and didn't realise that Frank Herbert was dead for quite some time after reading Chapter House.
- jeremyjh 10mo agoI know that, I've read them too. In the SP, and in this thread we're discussing endings to novels. No one is complaining about a series that isn't finished due to the author's death.
- disgruntledphd2 10mo agoHence my comment, "which is probably worse".
- hnmullany 10mo agoEverything from Stephenson after Anathem is an unremitting slog. He needs an editor who won't back down from telling him he needs to cut a third of his pages.
- MangoToupe 10mo agoHard to believe this when it's such a cut and dry claim about text. What does exaggeration even imply in that context?
- layer8 10mo ago“Literally” is commonly used as emphasis, but not as hyperbole. So it’s still a misleading misrepresentation just the same.
- howenterprisey 10mo agoI interpret the sense of "literally" here in the opposite way, i.e. without it the sentence may be taken to mean that the books metaphorically stop mid-sentence, but with it, they're saying that it's non-metaphorical and they really do. It would be bizarre wording otherwise.
- Bjartr 10mo agoThe use of the word "literally" to be used as emphasis started in the 1700s, and people have been complaining about it since at least 1909 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literally#As_an_intensifier https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literally#As_an_intensifier
- grahamlee 10mo agoThese modern times that literally began in 1769. Oxford English Dictionary, “literally (adv.), sense I.1.c,” June 2025, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/9189024563 https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/9189024563.
- fnord77 10mo agoliterally