Noreen Masud is a Lecturer in Twentieth Century Literature at the University of Bristol and an AHRC/BBC New Generation Thinker. She works on aphorism, flatness, puppets, and nonsense.

• Introduction


• 1: Unnecessary Aphorisms


• 2: Aphoristic Messages, Too Late


• 3: Proverbs through Fairytale


• 4: Captions and the 'Appropriate'


• 5: Fragments 'Going On'


• Conclusion: To Go On


• Bibliography

Explores the literature of Stevie Smith with particular emphasis on the importance of the aphorism: a short, witty saying which expresses a general truth. It argues that the aphorism offers Smith a means of managing emotional statements in her work, enabling her to make, and make light of, sincere or dramatic communications.