diff --git a/brag/brag/codegen/runtime.rkt b/brag/brag/codegen/runtime.rkt
index 063469a..980bec2 100755
--- a/brag/brag/codegen/runtime.rkt
+++ b/brag/brag/codegen/runtime.rkt
@@ -80,10 +80,7 @@
          (lookup (string->symbol next-token) next-token no-position no-position)]
         
         [(? char?)
-         (lookup (cond
-                   [(eqv? #\newline next-token) '|\n|] ; supports handling whitespace char
-                   [(eqv? #\tab next-token) '|\t|] ; as literal token
-                   [else (string->symbol (string next-token))]) next-token no-position no-position)]
+         (lookup (string->symbol (string next-token)) next-token no-position no-position)]
         
         ;; Compatibility 
         [(? lex:token?)
diff --git a/brag/brag/rules/lexer.rkt b/brag/brag/rules/lexer.rkt
index 675c10d..c411ba7 100755
--- a/brag/brag/rules/lexer.rkt
+++ b/brag/brag/rules/lexer.rkt
@@ -32,14 +32,21 @@
 (define lex/1
   (lexer-src-pos
    ;; handle whitespace chars within quotes as literal tokens: "\n" "\t" '\n' '\t'
+   ;; by matching the escaped version, and then unescaping them before they become token-LITs
    [(:: "'"
         (:* (:or "\\'" "\\n" "\\t" (:~ "'" "\\")))
         "'")
-    (token-LIT lexeme)]
+    (token-LIT (case lexeme
+                 [("'\\n'") "'\n'"]
+                 [("'\\t'") "'\t'"]
+                 [else lexeme]))]
    [(:: "\""
         (:* (:or "\\\"" "\\n" "\\t" (:~ "\"" "\\")))
         "\"")
-    (token-LIT lexeme)]
+    (token-LIT (case lexeme
+                 [("\"\\n\"") "\"\n\""]
+                 [("\"\\t\"") "\"\t\""]
+                 [else lexeme]))]
    ["("
     (token-LPAREN lexeme)]
    ["["