I. Major Questions, Concepts
and Terms
II. Outline
1) Modern Stylistics & the Novel
2) Literary language (both spoken and written) and
heteroglossia in novel
3) The Speaking Person
III. Conclusion
IV. Discussion
V. Works Cited
I. Major Questions, Concepts and Terms
in "Discourse in the Novel"
A. Questions:
-- How is the language of poetry different from that of novel?
Why is the former the more privileged literary form than the
latter?
-- How does novel stratify its discourse and how is novelist
heteroglot related to social heteroglot?
B. Heteroglossia: The co-existence of many languages in one
social language. "Dislogism describes the way languages
interact, while heteroglossia describes the languages themselves"
(Vice 20).
-- many languages exist at the same time. (263):
-- "The base condition governing the operation of meaning in
any utterance. It is that which insures the primacy of context over
text. At any given time, in any given place, there will be a set of
conditions that will insure that a word uttered in that place and
at that time will have a meaning different than it would have under
any other conditions; all utterances are heteroglot . . . " (428).
-- Language in the context of time and space: The historical
meanings of the same word in one language is given in
different times and spaces.
C. Dialogism & Utterance:
-- Performance of speaking tone. (33-4) One word or utterance with
different tones bring different significance of intention.
-- Juxtaposition of language (34, 36): The various conditions of
juxtaposing different languages, which will converse with one
another.
-- over-determination and dynamic interaction:
- "As such they may be juxtaposed to one another, mutually
supplement one another, contradict one another
and be interrelated dialogically" (34).
- "Language is not a neutral medium that passes freely and
easily into the private property of the speaker's intentions;
it is populated -- overpopulated--with the intentions of
others. Expropriating it, forcing it to submit to
one's own intentions and accents, is a difficult and complicated
process" (35).
TOP
II. Outline --
1). Modern Stylistics & the Novel
- contemporary attention on "separate, isolated stylistic
elements" or an individual author's style. (1191);
- knows only two poles: unitary language and the individual
speaking 1197
2). Literary language (both spoken and
written) and heteroglossia in novel: When we discuss the literary
language, we include dimensions of the real life, the literary life,
of which language is taken from real life and then been presented.
A. Both in real life and in literary works, we have
oral and written forms of language.
"Within the scope of literary language itself there is already a
more or less sharply defined boundary between
everyday-conversational language and written language" (294).
B. Heteroglossia in novel vs. the Unitary language
of poetry:
Novel --
- "The novel can be defined as a diversity of social speech
types, sometimes even diversity of language and a diversity of
individual voices, artistically organized" (32/1192).
- Includes dialects, languages of different social groups,
"professional" and "genetic" languages, langauges of generations
and so forth." (1199)
- Double-voiced discourse is attained whenever there is
interaction between social heteroglossia and literary language.
"Heteroglossia, once incorporated into the novel (whatever the
forms for its incorporation), is another's language, serving to
express authorial intentions but in a refracted way. Such speech
constitutes a special type of double-voiced discourse . . . " (40).
- Poetry vs. Novel -- p. 1194;
1200
- Unitary language defined -- p. 1198;
e.g. Aristotelian poetics
- Dialogism -- inter and intra language dialogue
1200
- The living word and utterance --
1202
- enters a dialogically agitated and
tension-filled environment of alient words, value judgments
and accents, . . .merges with some, recoils from others,
intersects with a third group;
- living utterance in a socially
specific environment and particular historical moment
- dialogic orientation:
directionality toward the object.
1204; the object defined dialogically,
- the intentional dimensions
1211-14 : social stratefication
+ genetic and professional stratefication --> socially
significant verbal performance : "infect with its own
intention certain aspects of language that had been affected
by its semantic and expressive impulse, imposing on them
specific semantic nuances and specific asiological
overtones; thus it can create slogan-words, curse-words,
praise words and so forth.
- All the languages of heteroglossia
are different points of view. The referential and
expressive --that is, the intentional--factors are the force
that stratifies and differentiates the common literary
language, but not the linguistic markers. . .
- There are no "neutral" words
1214
TOP
C. The authority of literary language: Author's authority
in composition: Author decides what language to be included and how
to present them ("the common view" and "going point of view").
"To one degree or another, the author distances himself from this
common language, he steps back and objectifies it, forcing his own
intentions to refract and diffuse themselves through the medium of
this common view that has become embodies in language" (37).
D. Parody: The distance thatt authors keeps
themselves from their writings attains parodic
stylizations in comic novel. Example: Charles
Dickens Little Dorrit. 1. Ceremonial
speeches
2. Another's speech in another's
language is openly introduced as
indirect discourse.
3. High epic style.
4. Pseudo-objective motivation.
5. An epic, homeric introduction.
(37-40)
6. fictive solidarity with the
hypocritically ceremonial general
opinion of Merdle.
7. hybrid construction where within
the frame of authorial speech.
8. analogous hybrid construction,
in which the definition provided by
the general opinion of society.
(306-7)
TOP
3). The Speaking Person
A. a point where centrifugal as well as centripetal
forces are brought to bear. (1199) Transmission
and interpretations: "Every conversation is full of
transmission and interpretations of other people's
words" (40).
B. Three aspects of the speaking person: (332-3)
1. The speaking person and his discourse in the novel is
an object of verbal artistic representation.
2. Individual character and individual fates--and
the individual discourse that is determined by these
and only these--are in themselves of no concern for
the novel.
3. The speaking person in the novel is always, to
one degree or another, an ideologue, and his words
are always ideologemes. A particular language in a
novel is always a particular way of viewing the
world. C. Psychological impact
concerning the speaking location: public sphere: in
real life, people give speeches in public occasions
and received other people's speeches too.
D. The Uniqueness of individual voice: each
individual is unique, and each person's voice is
certainly unique in historical context.
E. Socio-ideological consciousness: Double-voiced:
"reciting by heart" and "retelling in one's own
words"
F. The authoritative discourses have been implanted
in people through education to become internally
persuasive discourses later underlining people's
behaviors and speeches.
G. The Authority of Authoritative Discourses: No
argument:
1. Authoritative language is surrounded by many other
languages.
Authoritative discourse may organize around itself great masses of
other types of discourses . . . but the authoritative discourse
itself does not merge with these" (42).
2. People undoubtedly do not have choice to choose the
authoritative discourse inasmuch as it is authoritative discourse,
it is inoscillatory.
"Authoritative discourse cannot be represented--it is only
transmitted" (43).
TOP
III. Conclusion.
A. The language, the culture, the history: According to
the idea of uniqueness, each word in any language
will be given and bring different meanings in
different space and time based on the speaker's
socio-ideological consciousness.
B. "Half-ours and half-someone else's": This is a
world contains heteoglossia. 1. There
is never a world of unitary voice.
2. Socio-ideological consciousness.
a. "Consciousness
finds itself
inevitably facing
the necessity of
having to choose a
language" (35).
b. "Our ideological
development is just
such an intense
struggle within us
for hegemony among
various available
verbal and
ideological points
of view, approaches,
directions, and
values" (44).
IV. Discussion. A. Can you
identity Bakhtin's difference from formalism?
B. Bakhtin once had "dialogues" with Marxism and
Freudism. Do you see any dialogism among them?
What is the result of this dialogism?
TOP
Works Cited
Bakhtin, M. M. The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays by M.
M. Bakhtin. Ed. Michael Holquist. Trans. (pagination in black
is from this edition)
"Discourse in the Novel." Norton Anthology of Theory and
Criticism. Eds. Vincent B. Leitch, et al. NY: Norton, 2001.
(pagination in red.)
Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist. Austin: University of Texas
Press, 1981.
Rivkin, Julie, and Michael Ryan, eds. Literary Theory: An
Anthology. Massachusetts: Blackwell, 1998.
Vice, Sue. Introducing Bakhtin. Manchester and New York: Manchester
University Press, 1997.
Liu, Kang [劉康]. Bakhtin's Dialogism and Cultural Theory
[對話的喧聲:巴赫汀文化理論述評]. Taipei
[台北]: Rye Field [麥田], 1995.
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