Chapter IV

I. V. Arnold

INTERPRETATION of the LITERARY TEXT

(Abridged Lecture)

Part I. Fundamentals of Decoding Stylistics

The aim of this lecture is to show the future teacher of English how the language of a poetic or prose text should be analyzed in order to achieve a fuller understanding of the relationships existing between the linguistic form and literary function. It takes its direction from decoding stylistics, applying concepts of modern linguistics and Information Theory to text analysis. Its purpose is to introduce some additional precision into the theory and practice of interpretation.

The term Decoding Stylistics, first suggested by M. Riffaterre, does not mean that we propose to exclude intuition and personal judgement and provide instead some mechanical technique of stylistic analysis. Intuition is welcome, only it must be verified by what is actually said in the text. The term decoding implies that we concentrate our attention on the receiving end of Shannon’s chain of communication (objective reality ---- transmitter/encoder ---- message/text --- receiver/decoder ---- objective reality surrounding the addressee) and define our basic notions in conformity with Information Theory.

Decoding Stylistics furnishes a theoretical basis for text interpretation concerned with the message and not with the individual style of the author, although traditionally style was regarded in connection with the author’s individuality in the first place which lead to the underestimation of the reader’s reaction. For the sake of the holistic approach our illustrations are largely taken from poetry because very size of the prose text is too bulky for grasping it as a whole.

Decoding Stylistics finds ways of prompting, directing and checking the reader’s intuition with the help of observing the vocabulary and its contextual organization in texts of various size and scope.

Foregrounding.

The main concept we study is that of foregrounding. The term is self-explanatory – to assure the hierarchy of meanings they are given artistic emphasis which brings them to the foreground.

Foregrounding is a special contextual organization focusing the reader’s attention on some elements of the contents of the message and establishing meaningful relations between juxtaposed or distant elements of the same or different levels and the text as a whole.

From the point of view of Decoding Stylistics foregrounding comprises both additional regularities and additional irregularities and may be regarded as a level above that of tropes. The notion of foregrounding is more comprehensive than that of a stylistic device or trope. The units may include tropes both taxonomically and syntagmatically. Foregrounding may cover bigger parts of texts containing several devices.

The idea of foregrounding appeared first in the Prague School, where the phenomenon was mostly called deautomatization of the linguistic code. In foregrounding the reader’s attention is attracted to the formal means through which the meaning is conveyed, and the interpretation of sense demands some creative effort on the part of the reader. This attention to sense was suggested by the following scholars: P.L. Garvin in 1964 described foregrounding as a stimulus not culturally expected in a social situation and hence capable of provoking special attention; M.A.K. Halliday describes foregrounding as “motivated prominence”; G. Leech considers foregrounding to be of vital importance for stylistic analysis. Various aspects of foregrounding were described under different names in different publications. They were first collected, systematized and classified in Decoding Stylistics.

Under the general heading of foregrounding we include the following phenomena: coupling, convergence, defeated expectancy, semantic repetition, sailent feature and some others. They differ from expressive means known as tropes and stylistic figures because they possess a generalizing force and function and provide structural cohesion of the text and the hierarchy of its meanings and images, bringing some to the fore and shifting others to the background. They also enhance the aesthetic effect and memorability.