Style In Fiction - WordPress
Since its first publication in 1981, Style in Fiction has established itself as a keytextbook in its field, selling nearly 30,000 copies. Now, in this second edition, theauthors have added substantial new material, including two completely newconcluding chapters. These provide an extensive, up-to-date survey of developmentsin the field over the past 25 years, and apply the methods presented in earlierchapters to an analysis of an entire short story. The further reading section andthe bibliographical references have also been thoroughly updated.Awarded the 2005 PALA Prize as the most influential book in stylistics publishedsince 1980, Style in Fiction remains a classic guide to its discipline.Professor Geoffrey Leech is Emeritus Professor of Linguistics and English Languageat Lancaster University. He has written, co-authored or co-edited over 25 books,including A Glossary of English Grammar (2006) and Longman Grammar of Spokenand Written English (1999). Professor Mick Short is Professor of English Languageand Literature at Lancaster University. He is the author of, among others, CorpusStylistics: Speech, Writing and Thought Presentation in a Corpus of English Writing(2004) and Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays and Prose (1996).Style in FictionStylistics is the study of language in the service of literary ends, and in Style in FictionGeoffrey Leech and Mick Short demonstrate how stylistic analysis can be applied tonovels and stories. Writing for both students of English language and Englishliterature, they show the practical ways in which linguistic analysis and literaryappreciation can be combined, and illuminated, through the study of literary style.Drawing mainly on major works of fiction of the last 150 years, their practical andinsightful examination of style through texts and extracts leads to a deeperunderstanding of how prose writers achieve their effects through language.Style in Fictionsecond editionA Linguistic Introduction to English Fictional ProseGeoffrey Leech and Mick ShortLeech and ShortISBN 978-0-582-78409-3secondedition9 780582 784093www.pearson-books.com9780582784093 COVER.indd 11/2/07 14:30:13
Style in Fictioni
Renaissance PoetryEnglish Language SeriesGeneral Editor:Randolph QuirkComplex Words in English, Valerie AdamsAn Introduction to Modern English Word-Formation, Valerie AdamsThe Rhythms of English Poetry, Derek AttridgeInvestigating English Style, David CrystalThe English Infinitive, Patrick DuffleyGood English and the Grammarian, Sidney GreenbaumCohesion in English, M.A.K. HallidayAdverbs and Modality in English, Leo HoyeA Linguistic Guide to English Poetry, Geoffrey LeechCreating Texts: An Introduction to the Study of Composition,Walter NashThe Language of Humour, Walter Nashii
Style in FictionA Linguistic Introduction toEnglish Fictional ProseSecond editionGeoffrey LeechEmeritus Professor of Linguistics and English Language,Lancaster UniversityMick ShortProfessor of English Language and Literature,Lancaster Universityiii
PEARSON EDUCATION LIMITEDEdinburgh GateHarlow CM20 2JEUnited KingdomTel: 44 (0)1279 623623Fax: 44 (0)1279 431059Website: www.pearsoned.co.ukFirst edition 1981Second edition published in Great Britain in 2007 Pearson Education Limited 2007The right of Geoffrey Leech and Mick Short to be identified as authors of thiswork has been asserted by them in accordance with theCopyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998.ISBN: 978-0-582-78409-3British Library Cataloguing in Publication DataA CIP catalogue record for this book can be obtained from the British LibraryLibrary of Congress Cataloging in Publication DataA CIP catalog record for this book can be obtained from the Library ofCongressAll rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise withouteither the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permittingrestricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright LicensingAgency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. This bookmay not be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise disposed of by way of tradein any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published,without the prior consent of the Publishers.10109 8 7 609 08 075 4 3 21Set by 35 in 9/11.5pt PalatinoPrinted in MalaysiaThe Publisher’s policy is to use paper manufactured from sustainable forests.iv
ContentsForewordxPreface to the second editionxiiAcknowledgementsxivPublisher’s acknowledgementsxvIntroductionAimLanguage in prose and poetryWhere linguistics comes inThe scope and design of this bookNotes112356PART ONE: APPROACHES AND METHODS1Style and choice1.1 The domain of style1.2 Stylistics1.3 Style and content1.3.1 Style as the ‘dress of thought’:one kind of dualism1.3.2 Style as manner of expression:another kind of dualism1.3.3 The inseparability of style and content: monism1.4 Comparing dualism and monism1.5 Pluralism: analysing style in terms of functions1.6 A multilevel approach to style1.7 Conclusion: meanings of styleNotes9911131316202224283132v
Contents2 Style,2.12.22.32.42.52.62.72.82.92.102.11Notestext and frequencyThe problem of ‘measuring’ styleThe uses of arithmeticDeviance, prominence and literary relevanceRelative normsPrimary and secondary normsInternal deviationPervasive and local characteristics of styleVariations in styleFeatures of styleStyle markers and the principle of selectionConclusion3 A method of analysis and some examples3.1 A checklist of linguistic and stylistic categories3.2 Notes on the categories3.3 Joseph Conrad: example 13.4 D.H. Lawrence: example 23.5 Henry James: example 33.6 Conclusion3.7 Quantitative appendixNotes4 Levels of style4.1 Language as a cognitive code4.2 Messages and models of reality4.3 An example: Katherine Mansfield4.3.1 The semantic level4.3.2 The syntactic level4.3.3 The graphological level4.3.4 Phonological effects4.4 A justification for studying stylistic variants4.5 Levels and functions4.6 Style and qualitative foregrounding4.7 The remainder of this 894959599100101103104105106108110116117PART TWO: ASPECTS OF STYLE5 Language and the fictional world5.1 Language, reality and realism5.2 Reality and mock reality5.3 Specification of detail: symbolism and realismvi121121123125
Contents5.4Real speech and fictional speech5.4.1 Realism in conversation5.4.2 Dialect and idiolect5.4.3 Speech and character5.5 The rendering of the fiction5.5.1 Fictional point of view5.5.2 Fictional sequencing5.5.3 Descriptive focus5.6 ConclusionNotes1281291341371391391411441481496Mind style6.1 How linguistic choices affect mind style6.2 A comparison of three normal mind styles6.3 Some more unusual mind styles6.4 A very unusual mind style6.4.1 General structure6.4.2 Lexis6.4.3 Syntax6.4.4 Textual 87190192195196198201204204rhetoric of textThe rhetoric of text and discourseThe linearity of textThe principle of end-focusSegmentation7.4.1 The ‘rhythm of prose’7.4.2 Segmentation and syntax7.5 Simple and complex sentences7.5.1 Coordination and subordination7.5.2 The principle of climax: ‘last is most important’7.5.3 Periodic sentence structure7.5.4 Loose sentence structure7.6 Addresser-based rhetoric: writing imitating speech7.7 Iconicity: the imitation principle7.7.1 Three principles of sequencing7.7.2 Juxtaposition7.7.3 Other forms of iconicity7.8 Cohesion7.8.1 Cross-reference7.8.2 Linkage7.9 ConclusionNotesvii
Contents8 Discourse and the discourse situation8.1 The discourse situation of literature8.1.1 Implied author and implied reader8.1.2 Authors and narrators8.1.3 Narrators and characters8.2 Point of view and value language8.3 Multiplicity of values8.4 Irony8.5 Authorial tone8.6 ConclusionNotes2062062072102152182212222252292309 Conversation in the novel9.1 Pragmatics and the interpretation of conversation9.1.1 Speech acts9.1.2 Conversational implicature9.2 Pragmatics and thought9.3 ‘Conversation’ between authors and readers9.4 An extended pragmatic analysis9.5 Conversational tone9.5.1 An example: references to people9.5.2 Other indicators of politeness9.5.3 Politeness and formality9.6 32541011viiiSpeech and thought presentation10.1 The presentation of speech10.1.1 Direct and indirect speech (ds and is)10.1.2 Free direct speech (fds)10.1.3 The narrative report of speech acts (nrsa)10.1.4 Free indirect speech (fis)10.1.5 The effects and uses of fis10.2 The presentation of thought10.2.1 The categorisation of thought presentation10.2.2 The relationship between inner speech andpoint of view10.2.3 Uses of the categories of thoughtpresentation10.3 1Stylistics and fiction 25 years on11.1 The development of stylistics as a sub-discipline282282273
Contents11.211.311.412New developments in the stylistic analysis of prosefiction and what, with hindsight, we would add toStyle in Fiction11.2.1 Story/plot11.2.2 Fictional worlds, text worlds, mental spaces11.2.3 Character and characterisationNew developments in the stylistics of prosefiction and what, with hindsight, we wouldchange in Style in Fiction11.3.1 Different kinds of viewpoint anddifferent linguistic indicators of viewpoint11.3.2 Narratological aspects of viewpoint11.3.3 Speech, thought and writing presentationDetail and precision, and the way ahead‘The12.112.212.3Bucket and the Rope’T.F. Powys‘The Bucket and the Rope’Discussion of ‘The Bucket and the Rope’12.3.1 Provisional interpretative comments on the story12.3.2 The title of the story: schemata and associations12.3.3 The story’s discourse structure: narration,speech presentation and ‘framing’12.3.4 The story’s structure12.3.5 Structuralist and possible worlds accountsof literary narratives: Claude Brémondand Marie-Laure Ryan12.3.6 Linking structure and interpretation:Claude Lévi-Strauss12.3.7 Fictional worlds and viewpoint12.3.8 Textual analysis in terms of lexis, grammarand meaning12.3.9 Characterisation12.4 Assessing the new 7313313314315316317322325334337341342Passages and topics for further study344Further reading369Bibliography381Index of works discussed395General index397ix
ForewordSince the first volumes of the English Language Series appearedthere has been something like a revolution in the relation between linguistic and literary studies, in part through the mediation of theanthropological ‘structuralists’. Numerous critics have turned to the workof professional linguists and equipped themselves with a far sharper knowledge of language. At the same time (and again in part through the samemediating influences), linguists have come to take a far more sophisticatedinterest in literature. Where the goal was once little more than the assemblyof linguistic ‘facts’ that might ( just might) be used by literary critics, wenow find linguists confidently making critical analyses that contributedirectly to literary interpretation and evaluation.In this revolution, Geoffrey Leech has played a leading part – testified,for example, by an earlier volume in this series, A Linguistic Guide to EnglishPoetry. In the present book, in which he is joined by his colleague MickShort, a still closer approximation is achieved between the role of linguistand critic. The field – prose fiction – is one in which, as the authors explainin their Introduction, the linguist’s contribution has hitherto been relativelyslight, because the small-scale structures on which linguists have in thepast most successfully focused are more amenable to discussion in thecontext of analysing poetry. But in recent years, more and more linguistshave extended their scope ‘beyond the sentence’, and studies of discoursehave now become sufficiently developed to give promise of far moreinsightful linguistic work on extensive prose texts than was conceivable ageneration ago.These convergences of interest have produced a new ‘stylistics’ in whichlinguist and critic can alike work without their ultimately differing unioncards being visible and hence, increasingly, without aridly raising demarcation disputes. Style in Fiction is a book of precisely this genre. Thoughwritten by scholars who are undoubtedly (but certainly not solely) linguists, a quarter-century has shown that it is read with equal pleasure andprofit by other linguists and by those whose predominant interest lies inx
Forewordthe critical study of literature. Small wonder that in 2005 it was awardedthe 25th Anniversary Prize by the Poetics and Linguistics Association.Now, in its new edition, the book’s value has been radically enhanced. Agreat deal has been written in the field of stylistics in the past 25 years, notleast by the authors themselves and the scholars worldwide that they haveinspired. In consequence, many revisions have been made to the book andmany references added. Moreover, the authors have enlarged their work bythe addition of the substantial, new Chapters 11 and 12.Style in Fiction has long held a distinguished place in the English Language Series: I am proud to greet so splendid a second edition.Randolph QuirkGeneral EditorUniversity College LondonAugust 2006xi
Preface to the second editionOver the last 25 years we have been asked on a number ofoccasions to produce a second edition of Style in Fiction. Untilnow we have resisted this urge because (a) we have always been involvedin other, new, projects which have excited our interest and (b) for someconsiderable time there would not have been that much that we wouldhave wanted to change. There were plenty of things we would have wantedto add, but as the English edition of ‘SIF’, as we came to call it, was alreadysome 400 pages long, we were rather hesitant at the thought of taxingour poor long-suffering readers even further. Even in 1979 (when the manuscript was finished) we had resisted a strong urge to add a chapter on thestructural analysis of plot and its relation to the interpretation of fiction, onthe grounds that the manuscript was already over-long.But then in 2001 we were asked to add an extra chapter for a Japanesetranslation of our book (eventually published in 2003) and twenty yearsafter the original publication of the book seemed a good time to take stock.This extra chapter took the form of a review of what had happened instylistics since Style in Fiction (1981) was published.Soon after the Japanese translation appeared, our British publishersre-approached us about a second edition of Style in Fiction, and although itwould have been too big an undertaking to go through the whole manuscript, updating it in detail in the light of the large amount of work that hastaken place since then, the fact that we already had an extra chapter whichwe could use as a draft gave us the idea of adding two chapters to theoriginal, which is what we have now done for this second edition. The firstof these two chapters, Chapter 11, is based on the extra chapter for the 2003Japanese translation, but updated further. It reviews what has happened instylistics, in particular prose stylistics, since 1981, and indicates in generalterms how we think the book would be different if we were writing it now,by indicating what we would want to add and what we would want tochange. We hope that this review will help those new to the field to understand the developments in stylistics of the last 25 years, and in particularxii
Preface to the second editiondevelopments relating to prose fiction. The second added chapter is ananalysis of a short story by T.F. Powys in the light of those new developments in the stylistic treatment of narrative.When we wrote Style in Fiction we had no idea how well-received it wasgoing to be. Indeed, we did not know how our academic peers would reactto it. But the book has now been continuously in print from 1981 to 2006,the date of this preface, and has been translated into Malay as well asJapanese, suggesting that it has been of some use to others. A Chineseedition (in English) has also been produced. SIF has become a course readerfor advanced stylistics courses worldwide and has been used not just bythose working on prose fiction in English but also by scholars and studentsof the literature of other modern languages (e.g. German and French).In July 2005 the members of the Poetics and Linguistics Association(PALA) awarded to Style in Fiction the PALA 25th Anniversary Prize forbeing the most influential book in stylistics since the association was established in 1980. A one-day symposium on style in fiction was organised atLancaster University on 11 March 2006 to celebrate the prize, and digitalvideo-recordings of the talks given at the symposium were made. They areavailable until May 2111 (in the first instance) from the members-only partsof the PALA website (http://www.pala.ac.uk/).So, with this renewal of interest, we felt somewhat obliged to provide thetwo extra chapters for this second edition of Style in Fiction. Other changesto the second edition are an updating of the Acknowledgements, the list ofContents, the Further Reading section, and the Bibliography, particularlyincorporating the many references to publications since 1980 cited in Chapters 11 and 12. Other changes are matters of correction to the first edition,as well as a few necessary changes to the notes to the earlier Chapters 1–10,for example, where bibliographical references have had to be changed.Geoffrey LeechMick ShortLancaster UniversityJuly 2006xiii
AcknowledgementsWe thank all those friends who have helped to make this abetter book than it would otherwise have been. Among them,we are particularly grateful to Joan Lord Hall, Roger Fowler and RandolphQuirk, who were generous enough to send us valuable and detailed comments on the whole book in manuscript. We are also indebted to a numberof colleagues in the School of English, especially to Richard Dutton, JamesHurford and Willy van Peer, who gave us their constructive criticisms ofcertain sections of the book. We thank Hilary Short for help throughout,especially with proof-reading, and Valerie Lomas has earned our gratitudefor being our excellent and long-suffering typist.GL, MSLancaster UniversitySeptember 1979Acknowledgements to the second editionWe would like to thank Derek Bousfield, Beatrix Busse, Lesley Jeffries andDan McIntyre for reading and commenting on one or both of the two extrachapters in the second edition. Brian Walker deserves our sincere thanksfor reading and commenting on material for us, and also for helping in theannotation of the story in Chapter 12 with speech and thought presentationanalysis. We would also like to give very special thanks to Yufang Ho forproof-reading the scanned version of the first edition for errors, and for hersterling work on the bibliography to the second edition.GL, MSLancaster UniversityJuly 2006xiv
Publisher’sacknowledgementsThe publishers are grateful to the following for permission toreproduce copyright material:David Higham Associates for an extract from The Great Gatsby by F. ScottFitzgerald from The Bodley Head Scott Fitzgerald (The Bodley Head Ltd,1963); The Random House Group Ltd and Random House, Inc. for anextract from Requiem for a Nun by William Faulkner Ruth Ford, adapter,copyright 1950, 1951 by William Faulkner and Ruth Ford, published byChatto & Windus. Reprinted by permission of The Random House GroupLtd and Random House, Inc.; Penguin Group (USA) Inc. for extracts fromA Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce, copyright 1916by B. W. Huebsch, copyright 1944 by Nora Joyce, copyright 1964 by theEstate of James Joyce. Used by permission of Viking Penguin, a division ofPenguin Group (USA) Inc.; Penguin Group (USA) Inc. for extracts fromOne Flew Over
Style in Fiction 289 11.2.1 Story/plot 289 11.2.2 Fictional worlds, text worlds, mental spaces 294 11.2.3 Character and characterisation 296 11.3 New developments in the stylistics of prose fiction and what, with hindsight, we would change in Style in Fiction 298 11.3.1 Different kinds of viewpoint and different linguistic indicators of .
Fiction Story Frame Fiction Story Map Fiction Vocabulary Study Fiction Write a Creative passage Non-Fiction Templates Non-fiction Before During After Non-Fiction Book Report Non-fiction Cause and Effect Non-fiction Closest-Farthest Non-fiction Compare
1. Science Fiction and Extro-Science Fiction Let's examine this difference: science fiction and extro-science fiction. Generally speaking, in science fiction the relation of fiction to science seems to be the following: it
Science Fiction & Fantasy/Science Fiction/Galactic Empire Sci Fi & Fantasy/Science Fiction/Genetic Engineering Sci Fi & Fantasy/Science Fiction/Metaphysical & Visionary Sci Fi & Fantasy/Science Fiction/Military/Space Fleet Sci Fi & Fantasy/Science Fiction/Military/Space Marine
Speculative fiction, a term first used by Robert A. Heinlein in 1947, encompasses various genres that "speculate" about imagined worlds, such as fantasy, science fiction, magic realism, horror fiction, and supernatural fiction. The branches of speculative fiction that we will focus on are science fiction and fantasy.
privacy. Instead of using science fiction media as objects of analysis, we use a science fiction text as a starting point to create our own design fiction artifacts. Our work builds on past connections drawn among design, research, fiction, and public imagination [29]. For researchers and designers, science fiction has helped shape
Hawkins, Paula. The girl on the train / Paula Hawkins. p. cm. ISBN 978-0-698-18539-5 1. Railroad travel—Fiction. 2. Commuters— Fiction. 3. Strangers—Fiction. 4. London (England)—Fiction. 5. Psychological fiction. I. Title. PR6108.A963G57 2015 2014027001 823'.92—dc23 This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents .
36 FICTION / Family Life Cutting for Stone Verghese, Abraham General Adult 37 BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs Going Rogue : An American Life. Palin, Sarah General Adult. 38 FICTION / Romance / Contemporary. Deep Dish Andrews, Mary Kay . General Adult 39. FICTION / Contemporary Women; FICTION / Humorous Hissy Fit Andrews, Mary Kay . General Adult 40. FICTION / General; FICTION .
the risks of adventure travel. Adventure travel is supposed to be challenging. But regardless of your age, destination or chosen activity, your safety should be of paramount importance. BS 8848 sets standards to minimize the risks of adventure travel. Knowledge of the standard is important to anyone organizing, or taking part in, an overseas venture. 2 Hundreds of thousands of people take part .
