Осознанное чтение тексты и задания = Mindful Reading texts and tasks. Учебное пособие = Textbook

PART 3. Functional stylistics: Fiction

Typology of fiction

▪emotive / artistic prose

▪poetry

▪drama

Functions and aims

▪the aesthetico-cognitive function: to communicate ideas and to cause pleasure

▪to build empathy

▪to provide an escape from reality

▪to stretch imagination

Style-forming features

▪individual

▪personal

▪creative

▪artistic

▪opinion-based

▪subjective

▪emotional

▪expressive

Linguistic features

▪genuine imagery

▪use of words in contextual meanings

▪individual selection of vocabulary and syntax used to convey the author’s personal ideas

▪introduction of various linguistic elements typical of other functional styles

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Section 1: Emotive Prose

Text 3.1

They went up a short marble staircase, treading without sound on a rich carpet of some green material that yielded like springing turf, and moved across a salon hung everywhere with the coloured and signed pictures of film stars. Back in this dim region of luxury, quite still except for the soft whirring of fans, they could hear a teaspoon chink, a cup grate on a saucer, a voice rise above another voice and sink again into voluptuous stillness. Out of a door marked “Circle” over the bull’s-eye in each of its two folding partitions, a trim girl in a chocolate uniform with blue pipings silently emerged, glanced at the tickets, and admitted them, flashing her torch into a hot darkness lit here and there by red lamps and speared diagonally by a shaft of white light falling on the rounded oblong of the screen. “Gee baby, you’re a swell kid.” There was a murmur in the audience, and a man’s face came surprisingly out of shadow as he struck a match in the lower part of the gallery. Still flashing her torch, the girl hopped in front of them down the steps of the circle, picked out a couple of vacant seats, and stood back to let them squeeze past her into the row. “Thank you,” Andrew said huskily. Several faces glared at them as they sat down.

“This a comedy?” Rosa took off her gloves and surveyed the dim amphitheater in the hope of recognizing some of her acquaintances. It pleased her to be seen in the dress circle, even with Andrew. But her eyes were still unaccustomed to the obscurity. She noted that the cinema, as usual, was nearly full, and looked for the first time at the screen. Two shadowy faces, enormous on the white background, moved together and kissed.

“It isn’t the big picture,” Andrew said. “That doesn’t come on till eight-forty. You see all right?”

She nodded. He risked no further enquiries, knowing how often she had forbidden him to talk to her in a cinema. He promised himself that tonight he would resist that awful temptation to explain the story in a whisper when he fancied he saw the end of it. Nor would he even say: “Liking it, Rosa?” – “No bored, are you? ‘Cos if you are we’ll go out.” –

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“It’s hot stuff, isn’t it?” No, he would say nothing and enjoy himself… Ah, this was better. Nice and warm in a cinema, and dark; you couldn’t see anybody else, and they couldn’t see you. Prefer cinemas to theatres any day.

The film ended a few minutes after they had come in. Down swung a looped curtain, pot-plants and palms leaped up under from the stage apron, one row of lights and then another shed a pink radiance over the exits, in the domed roof a shower of small stars twinkled and glittered and three bowls flushed suddenly to ruby colour. A dozen or so of the audience got up and pushed out to the exits. Swiftly the light dimmed again. The curtain rattled back and the white oblong emerged from folds already caught by lines of flickering grey print. A draped girl swam into view and began to blow bubbles out of a long pipe. One of these expanded and expanded until it filled the whole screen. It then burst into the letters “All Next Week”, which in turn dissolved and announced a film called “Mothers of Broadway” as a forthcoming attraction. The film seemed to have smashed all records. It drew tears from the hardest hearts. It sent thrills down the spine. It was a rapid-fire drama. It was a heart-searing tale of studio parties, million-dollar prize fights, and supercharged automobiles. It was, according to other statements, that rushed out of the screen, packed with heart-throbs, tingling with reality, vibrant with love and hate – and what a story it had! “You will love it,” the screen confidently asserted. “You might see it: the film you’ll never forget.” Beautiful blondes evidently abounded in this tale of thrill-thirsty young bloods. One of them, it seemed, was to find after rushing through “gaiety, temptation and sorrow” that motherhood is the greatest of all careers. “A film that plucks the heart-strings. Bewitching Minnie Haha in the mightiest drama of Broadway.”

“Not much good, I expect,” Andrew said. “Hullo – “ the lights dimmed and a chorus of metallic jazz broke out – “I think that’s the big picture on now.”

He had now a pleasant feeling that he was going to enjoy himself. There was some rare fun in the picture. That fat man with the

beard – you had to laugh! First of all you saw a shelf with a basket of eggs on it, then a cat moved along, then the eggs tumbled one by one

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on the man’s head. Oh dear! The way he squeezed that yolk out of his eyes and staggered forward and plumped headfirst into a water-butt. And then the lean chap, coming into the corridor, didn’t look where he was going and hit a cook who was marching out of the kitchen with a tray of custards. What a mix-up. Custards all over the place. Holding his seat tight to control his laughter, Andrew wondered whether these chaps really allowed themselves to be knocked down and swamped with custards. No wonder they got big salaries if they had to put up with that kind of thing every day of their lives. Perhaps they faked some of it. Anyhow it was too funny for words. And now here was that dog – must be a hard-worked dog, for you saw it, or another like it, in dozens of these comic films – and of course it was carrying something in its mouth. Oh yes, a stick of dynamite. Where was it going to put that? Under the fat man’s bed. Andrew wriggled with enjoyment, then started and laughed gleefully as the dialogue was cut short by a sudden loud explosion. Haha! There was the fat man with a black eye, no beard, half a collar, and no trousers. Oh, this was good! Rosa must be liking this.

What a baby he is, Rosa was thinking. You can’t really be angry with him. He doesn’t seem to have grown up at all. Talk about Peter Pan. He’s just a big sulking kid. Faintly contemptuously, she watched his blunt nose and chin silhouetted in the darkness. Is he really so stupid, she wondered. Yes, I suppose he is. Oh, for heaven’s sake, stop that cackling! The explosion shattered its way into the hall. She started.

“Good, isn’t it?” he broke out, forgetful in his excitement. She tossed her head.

“I don’t see anything funny in that.” “Och, Rosa!”

His hands dropped; all the joy died out of his face and eyes. He looked so abject that she was sorry for him against her will.

“I thought – it was quite funny, you know – I mean, people laughed. I wasn’t the only one. But if you don’t like it – ”

She tried hard, still moved by pity, to reply with gentleness, but the retort shaped itself and was uttered before she had command of it.

“I haven’t your sense of humour, that’s all.”

(taken from One Stair Up by Campbell Nairne // Практический курс английского языка для V курса / В.Д. Аракин и др.)

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Example of Text Analysis

The text under analysis is an extract taken from the novel by Campbell Nairne “One Stair Up”. The author relates the story of a young couple, Rosa and Andrew, going to the cinema. Thus, the fragment embraces two story-lines, the first being centred on cinema-going as such, the other concerning the portrayal of human relationships. The fragment is a successful combination of narration and description with the elements of dialogue. Consequently, the author realizes his goals most effectively, as we, readers, get an excellent opportunity to form our impressions of the characters, besides, we can easily visualize the magic and mysterious atmosphere of the cinema in its early period.

The story is told in the third person, thus, the events are presented from the perspective of the omniscient narrator. The choice of this particular point of view is by no means accidental – the author gains the opportunity to enter the minds of each of the characters, revealing their thoughts and feelings, and we are amazed to learn how different they are when it comes to their impressions of the film, and, what is more important, to their attitude to each other. The desired effect is achieved by means of the inner represented speech.

The fragment falls into three descriptive parts, they are linked through narrative pieces intermingled with dialogues, which give a work pace and make scenes more vivid and convincing.

The first passage is devoted to the description of the cinemahouse. The role of this part is crucial, since it sets the mood for the whole fragment and introduces us into the luxurious and glamorous atmosphere of the cinema. This passage is remarkable for its detailed descriptions with the help of which the author creates a special atmosphere – the atmosphere of mystery and enchantment. From the very first lines we understand that cinema-going was at that period of time a magic experience, a rare treat and even a social occasion. The fragment abounds in words charged with positive connotations, many of them belonging to the semantic field of luxury: marble, rich carpet, salon, film stars, voluptuous (stillness). The original metaphor ‘dim region of luxury’ makes the image even more striking.

To make the description more vivid, colourful and emotional, the author resorts to expressive means found on all the levels of the

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language. Sound-imitation (whirring, grate, chink, murmur) helps to create the acoustic picture, besides, it must be mentioned that the author masterly appeals to our ear to render subdued and soothing sounds, which, in its turn, contributes to the general tone of the mysterious atmosphere of cinema (… treading without sound…quite still… silently emerged). The choice of words, by and large, is remarkable for their musical quality (yielded like springing turf, soft whirring of fans), which definitely pleases the ear.

Since description always relies on sensory details, descriptive passages are rich in concrete details that appeal to the reader’s eye. Thus, the use of the words denoting colours, such as ‘green (carpet), chocolate (uniform), blue (pipings), red (lamps), white (lights)’ makes us visualize the cinema-hall and its décor more easily. By and large, thanks to the elaborate word-choice, the author creates the lofty atmosphere; we won’t go far wrong if we claim that the cinema-house is presented as a temple, where the viewers are ‘admitted’.

Syntactically speaking, the passage abounds in long sentences, complex and compound, which is also a typical feature of description. Numerous inverted sentences (“Back in this dim region…”, “Out of a door marked “Circle”…”, “Still flashing her torch…”) slow down the tempo and elevate the style. Sentences beginning with adverbial modifiers of place also serve a very important function – we, readers, feel involved, we are invited to enjoy the sight.

Summing it up, we may state that in order to depict the cinemahouse as a gorgeous and glamorous place, evoking feelings of awe and fascination, the author employs different expressive means and stylistic devices, the most effective, in our opinion, are the epithets (hot darkness, voluptuous stillness), as they express the author’s emotional attitude to the place described.

In the second descriptive passage the author brings into focus the commercial which precedes the main film. The marked change in tone and tempo cannot go unnoticed; the description becomes more dynamic and even energetic. The passage abounds in emotionally coloured words which present the film “Mothers of Broadway” as an unsurpassed masterpiece. Since the purpose of any advertisement is to sell the product, highlighting its original and supreme qualities,

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it’s only natural that the description is based on numerous hyperboles: smashes all records, million-dollar prize fights, supercharged automobiles, packed with heart-throbs, abounded. Adjectives in their superlative forms reinforce what is being said and underline that the film is absolutely unique: hardest (hearts), greatest, mightiest (drama). Nevertheless, attentive readers cannot be misguided by the deliberate exaggerations and take them at their face value. The tone of the passage is ironic, even sarcastic. The author laughs at the film-makers, who are trying to make the film appealing to every part of the audience. On the one hand, it is aimed at young people who are sure to be attracted by ‘beautiful blondes’, ‘supercharged automobiles’ and ‘million-dollar prize fights’, on the other hand, the story of ‘love and hate’ must have a great appeal for girls. At the same time, the very title of the film as well as its message – “motherhood is the greatest of all careers” – makes us think that the film may be intended for the married couples, housewives, in particular. As a result, the picture seems to satisfy all the tastes and is likely to be consumed by common people. The author masterfully creates the impression of a medley of ideas, reflecting the incompatible notions the film-makers put together. The description abounds in compound words which laconically express compound notions: rapid-fire, heartsearing, million-dollar, heart-throbs, thrill-thirsty, heart-strings. The description is rich in imagery, but metaphors employed by the author are hackneyed and trite – to pluck the heart-strings, to send thrills down the spine, to draw tears – which once again stresses the fact that this film is full of clichés and lacks originality.

The advertisers of the film also become the object of mockery. The author carefully preserves the linguostylistic features typical of advertisements. To begin with, there are numerous instances of alliteration (to blow bubbles, hardest hearts, thrill-thirsty); this phonetic device is favoured by advertisers as it makes the utterance memorable and acoustically pleasant. The predominant pronoun is ‘you’ (you will love it, you must see it, the story you will never forget), which helps to establish the direct contact with the audience. The syntax of the passage is also remarkable – short and simple sentences make the tempo very fast, parallel structures combined with the anaphoric

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repetition of ‘it’ generate the rhythm and provide the inner structure of the text, uniting heterogeneous ideas: “It drew tears from the hardest hearts. It sent thrills down the spine. It was a rapid-fire drama. It was a heart-searing tale…” Consequently, the statements ‘rushing’ from the screen sound more expressive and even aggressive. It has already been mentioned that the passage is full of gross exaggerations with the help of which the ironic effect is created. The whole passage is permeated with irony and it reaches its culmination in the final sentence of the paragraph: “Bewitching Minnie Haha in the mightiest drama of Broadway”, which sounds absolutely ridiculous. Last but not least, Andrew’s remark “Not much good, I expect” in relation to the preceding paragraph is very significant. It does not only reveal the futility of efforts to persuade the people into ‘buying’ this product, but also characterizes Andrew as a rather shrewd person.

Summing it up, we can say that the author skillfully manipulates language to achieve the desired effect on the reader.His attitude towards the commercial described is obviously ironic. The author mocks at film-makers and advertisers who create second-rate films to satisfy the needs of the public. For that purpose he resorts to phonetic, lexical and syntactical expressive means and stylistic devices, the most striking being hyperbole, compound-words, repetitions and parallelism.

The third part presents a description of “the big picture”– a comedy of action, obviously, black-and-white, so popular at that period of time. First and foremost, the picture is presented from Andrew’s point of view. The author makes use of the inner represented speech, and this technique allows him, on the one hand, to depict Andrew from within, disclosing his thoughts and feelings, and, on the other hand, to describe the film itself. Thus, two goals are successfully realized: in our mind’s eye we can conjure up an image of Andrew, a sincere and simple-hearted young man, enjoying the film immensely. His speech characterizes his cultural and social background – colloquialisms (mix-up, chap), simple sentences – implicitly describe him as a working-class man, not too sophisticated and quite simple-minded. He relates the events unfolding on the screen in a simple and even child-like manner: the verbs denoting action and movements (a cat moved along… the eggs tumbled one by one… squeezed that yolk…

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and staggered forward and plumped… coming… going... marching…) render motion and make us imagine the picture easily. The syntax is also typical of the spoken language: exclamatory sentences (Oh dear! Haha! Oh, this was good!), elliptical sentences (Under the fat man’s bed), questions (Where was it going to put that?) make the text convincing and natural. Interestingly, his emotional state is described both from within (the above mentioned remarks) and from without: “Holding his seat tight to control his laughter…”, “Andrew wriggled with enjoyment, then started out and laughed gleefully…” In his excitement he forgets about his promise not to bother Rosa with his comments. And at this point of our analysis we must concentrate on another story-line presented in the fragment, no less important, that is, the relationships of Rosa and Andrew.

It must be stated from the very start that their relationships are portrayed implicitly, in other words, the author doesn’t describe directly the nature of their interrelation. At the same time a lot can be deduced about the way they react to each other and treat each other thanks to numerous details, their short remarks in the dialogues, and, mostly, instances of inner represented speech. On the whole, Rosa and Andrew produce an impression of an ill-matched couple, suffice it to say, the film which Andrew is enjoying so much, doesn’t appeal to Rosa at all, arousing in her only irritation and scorn. It’s always dangerous to generalize, but, basically, these are the feelings she experiences towards Andrew.

The commonplace word ‘even’ in the context acquires enormous significance: “It pleased her to be seen in the dress circle, even with Andrew”, which illustrates her attitude to him – she merely tolerates his presence and doesn’t care much for him. By contrast, all Andrew’s thoughts and remarks express his admiration and affection – “No bored, are you? ‘Cos if you are we’ll go out.” Being absorbed in the picture, he not for a second forgets about Rosa’s presence: “Oh, this was good! Rosa must be liking this.” There is a striking contrast between this phrase and the following paragraph which is presented from Rosa’s perspective; “What a baby he is…He doesn’t seem to have grown up at all…Is he really so stupid, she wandered”, which vividly illustrates a wide gap between them. And the emotionally coloured

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word “cackling” in her imperative “Oh, for heaven’s sake stop that cackling!” shows her annoyance, being in keeping with the previous phrase “faintly contemptuous, she watched his blunt nose…” Rosa doesn’t take Andrew seriously and considers him to be ‘a big hulking kid’; this idea is further developed with the help of the allusion “talk about Peter Pan”. Andrew, in his turn, is really upset and hurt by her reaction; the metaphor “all the joy died out of his face and eyes” helps us get a vivid notion of his state of misery. He tries to justify himself: “I thought – it was quite funny, you know – I mean, people laughed. I wasn’t the only one. But if you don’t like it –”. This remark abounds in expressive means, syntactical, mostly, with the help of which the author makes it sound true-to-life, creating an atmosphere of informal conversation (detached constructions, break-in-the-narrative which imply the intensity of emotions, graphical expressive means – italics – which emphasize the word ‘was’). We won’t go far wrong if we state that the situation is hopeless, as they are just too different people to be happy together.

By way of conclusion it may be said that the analysis of the fragment enabled us to grasp the full significance of the text, to appreciate its wit, flavour and originality. We can’t help admiring the versatile talent of the author who made us feel a different experience throughout the fragment, skillfully manipulating our response. Thus, when describing the setting, the author makes us enjoy the mysterious and glamorous atmosphere of the cinema-house in such a way that we feel almost active participants of the scene. When presenting the commercial of the film “Mothers of Broadway”, he makes us share his ironic attitude towards the ridiculous and primitive picture. When depicting the film which the characters came to see, he makes us watch the events on the screen through the eyes of Andrew, giving a clear-cut picture of both the film and his personage. Taken all together, these descriptive passages give an idea of what the world of cinema was like at the earliest stage of its existence. Needless to say, the elaborate choice of expressive means and stylistic devices helps to produce the desired effect on the reader. The way the author makes each passage have its own tempo and tone is amazing. The first part is remarkable for the polished and lofty language, it’s rich in imagery. The second passage is more dynamic,

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