When voices clash : a study in literary pragmatics / by Jacob L. Mey.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mey, Jacob.

Series:

Trends in linguistics. Studies and monographs ; 115.

Trends in linguistics. Studies and monographs ; 115

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Discourse analysis, Literary.

Physical Description:

xv, 454 pages : 1 illustration ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; New York : Mouton de Gruyter, 1999.

Contents:

1 Literary pragmatics: Why and what? 3

1.1. 'I wanted those ships' 3

1.2. The context as a problem 6

1.3. 'Don't drive like my brother (or my sister)' 9

1.4. Literary pragmatics: A definition 12

Part 1 The sentence

2 The state of the question 15

2.1. What is the question? 15

2.2. Banfield's 'unspeakable sentences' 18

2.3. Ehrlich: Sentence and narrator 20

2.4. Fludernik: A synthesis? 25

2.5. 'Lector in fabula' 28

2.5.1. The web of reading 29

2.5.2. Context and cotext 34

2.5.3. Contextual coercion: 'Setting up' the reader 37

3 The language question 41

3.1. Reference and deixis 41

3.1.2. Deixis 43

3.1.3. Personal pronouns 45

3.2. Anaphora 49

3.3. Tense and point of view 54

3.3.1. 'Anchored' vs. 'non-anchored' time 54

3.3.2. Time, tense, and perspective 58

3.3.2.1. 'Viewing time' 59

3.3.2.2. True preterits 66

3.3.3. Tense shift reconsidered 68

3.3.3.1. The sequence of tenses 69

3.3.3.2. 'Backshifting' and free indirect discourse 72

3.3.4. Other languages, other ways 82

Part 2 Voice

4 Speakability and voice 89

4.1. What is 'speakability'? 89

4.2. Speakable and unspeakable sentences 92

4.2.1. Sentence and utterance 92

4.2.2. To be or not to be ... a linguist? Banfield's dilemma 95

4.2.3. Cart and horse: Ehrlich's impasse 96

4.2.4. A linguistic voice? Fludernik's problem 99

4.3. FID and grammar 103

4.3.1. The saving grace of rules: 'Grammaire et Riffaterre' 103

4.3.2. Speakability, subject, and voice 108

4.3.3. Dual voice 108

5 Voice and voice management 112

5.1. Vocality and voice 112

5.2. Voice management 112

5.3. How are voices managed? 121

5.4. The 'optics' of FID 126

5.4.1. Voice management and vocality 127

5.4.2. Narrator's deceit 128

5.4.3. 'Voicing' and speakability 132

5.4.4. The object of description 136

5.5. Speakability and readability 143

6 Voice in focus 145

6.1. Perspective and voice 145

6.1.1. Focalization and localization 145

6.1.2. Focality and vocality 148

6.2. Multivocality 153

6.2.1. Language, meaning, and truth 154

6.2.2. Orchestration and dialogizing 157

6.2.3. Problems of person: 'I', 'eye', and skaz 161

7 Voice in transition 172

7.1. When voices change 172

7.1.1. 'Whose voice ...?' 172

7.1.2. Announcing a voice shift 175

7.1.3. 'Changing voices in mid-stream' 180

7.1.4. A smooth transition? 186

7.2. When voices clash 189

7.2.1. Voice trashing: 'What are you doing to my character?' 190

7.2.1.1. A time warp 190

7.2.1.2. A trashy view 198

7.2.2. Voice mashing: 'Who's that character speaking?' 202

7.2.3. Voice crashing: 'What's that character doing in my story?' 211

7.2.3.1. The apostrophizing author 211

7.2.3.2. Authors' untimely antics 217

7.3. Unvoicing 224

Part 3 Perspectives

8 The dialogic perspective 233

8.1. Understanding as dialogue 233

8.2. Ownership and responsibility 236

8.3. From dialogue to discourse: Cooperation and constraint 239

8.4. Does the reader have a voice? 241

8.4.1. 'Tell me a story' 241

8.4.2. Implied authors and readers 243

8.4.3. A dialogue with death 247

8.4.4. The not (yet) said 249

8.4.5. The elusions of allusions 252

8.4.6. Person and voice 256

9 The reader perspective 262

9.1. Reader and text 262

9.1.1. Reading across space and time 262

9.1.2. The reader: Competent or versatile? 267

9.2. The implied reader revisited 268

9.2.1. Text work 268

9.2.2. Communication and alienation 270

9.2.3. The subversive reader 272

9.2.4. Reader awareness 274

10 The pragmatic perspective 281

10.1. The power of words: A pragmatic affair 282

10.1.1. The 'superaddressee' 283

10.1.2. A 'third' voice 286

10.2. Reported speech: Reality or fiction? 288

10.3. Voice power 291

10.3.1. 'Your speech betrays you' 291

10.3.2. The narrative context 295

10.3.3. Changing contexts, changing users 297

10.4. The pragmatic turn 300

10.4.1. Words and things 300

10.4.2. Acts in context 302

10.4.3. The pragmatics of reading 305

10.4.3.1. Coherence and understanding 305

10.4.3.2. Reading as a pragmatic act 308

Part 4 The text

11 The voice of the text 317

11.1. The pragmatics of the letter 317

11.1.1. The tyranny of letters 319

11.1.2. On writing letters 322

11.1.3. The spirit of the other 326

11.2. The dialectics of voicing 328

11.2.1 Authorship and textual control 329

11.2.2. 'Pre-set' discourse 330

11.2.3. The 'Uncle Charles principle' 334

11.3. Hegemony and autonomy: A responsible voice 338

12 The speakable text 350

12.1. Dialogue, text, and sex 350

12.2. Linguistics and metalinguistics 354

12.3. Dialogue and dialectics 359

12.3.1. Contact and context 359

12.3.2. Reflection and 'anchoring' 361

12.3.3. The dialectic text 365

12.3.3.1. A 'new' voice 366

12.3.3.2. Reconsidering speakability 369

12.3.3.3. Power and distance 371

12.3.4. Conclusion: Text, voice, and society 378.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [409]-426) and indexes.

ISBN:

3110158205

3110158213

OCLC:

39849455