Monday, 21 November 2016

THE FUGITIVE (MARCEL PROUST), TENTH OF DECEMBER (GEORGE SAUNDERS) AND THE SICENTIFIC ERRATA

...and the water as a combination of hydrogen and nitrogen (sic)...” (The Fugitive, Marcel Proust)
"He was now approximately three-quarters, or that would be sixty percent, across." (Tenth of December, George Saunders)

A spelling mistake is a different concept that an erratum. You make a spelling mistake because you do not know a rule, but an erratum (unavoidable, as all the editors know) is such a big mistake that it is always because of coincidence or bad luck. We could speak about scientific errata too. Did Proust ignore that water is made of hydrogen and oxygen? It is unlikely. Doesn´t George Saunders know how to calculate a basic percentage? This is more likely, though it could be a sort of joke.

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