Literary Linguistics and Critical Appreciation - Stylistic analysis of a fragment from novel and an article - Defining style and stylistics
Mihnea Simandan - MA ELL (2nd year)
Literary Linguistics and Critical Appreciation
Stylistic analysis of a fragment from novel and an article
Defining style and stylistics
Style is the author's careful choice of words and arrangement of words, sentences, and paragraphs to produce a specific effect on the reader.
Style allows the author to shape how the reader experiences the work. For example, one writer may use simple words and straightforward sentences, while another may use difficult vocabulary and elaborate sentence structures. Even if the themes of both works are similar, the differences in the authors' styles make the experiences of reading the two works distinct.
An author's style evolves out of the chosen point-of-view technique. The omniscient point of view produces a relatively complex style; the first-person point of view results in a simple style if it is recorded as "spoken," more complex if written; and third-person point of view generates a style that typically is slightly elevated above the intelligence level of the focal character.
Style can be broken down into three types: simple, complex, and mid-style. Sometimes authors carry a single style throughout an entire work. Other times, the style may vary within a novel. For example, if the novelist tells a story through the eyes of several different characters, the use of different styles may give each character a distinctive voice.
A simple style uses common words and simple sentences, even if the situation described is complex. The effect of the simple style can be to present facts to the reader without appealing to the reader's emotions directly. Instead, the writer relies on the facts themselves to affect the reader. American author Ernest Hemingway is widely known for a spare, economical style that nevertheless provokes an emotional reaction.
A complex style uses long, elaborate sentences that contain many ideas and descriptions. The writer uses lyrical passages to create the desired mood in the reader, whether it be one of joy, sadness, confusion, or any other emotion. American author Henry James uses a complex style to great effect in his novels.
A mid-style is a combination of the simple and complex styles. It can give a neutral tone to the book, or it can provide two different effects by contrast. Thai-American writer S.P. Somtow uses the mid-style in Jasmine Nights.
Some authors use more than one style within a novel. This approach allows the author flexibility in choosing which style is appropriate at different points in the work, depending on the situation and on the character or characters being portrayed. Novelists who have mixed styles include the American writer Herman Melville, in such work as Moby Dick, and the Irish writer James Joyce, in his Ulysses.
Style has been a subject of interest for a very long time, and in recent years has acquired its own field of study called stylistics.
Stylistic analysis in literary studies is usually made for the purpose of commenting on quality and meaning in a text. The purpose of a stylistics analysis is to understand and interpret a text. Thus, an extremely careful attention is paid to the text in its every detail. The process of the analysis will reveal the good (and/or bad) qualities of the writing.
Stylistic analysis of a non-literary text involves studying in detail the features of a piece of writing from such genres as: news reports, articles, opinions, editorials, etc. The method of analysis of a non-literary text is not different from the one used to analyze a literary text. The text is being looked at in great detail, observing what the parts are, and identifying the function they perform in the given context.
The method of analysis is fairly scientific. A hypothesis is stated and then proved using examples and explanations.
Aims, texts, hypothesis
The aims of the present paper are: (1) to attempt a stylistic analysis of two text, and (2) to demonstrate the fact that stylistics is an important discipline when trying to discover meanings in texts. The first text analyzed is a fragment from the novel Kokoro by the Japanese author Nastume Soseki, and the second text analyzed is the article Romania gains reputation as nexus of cybercrime, published in Bangkok Post on October 28, 2003. In the two analysis I will demonstrate using examples and explanations that the style of the two text is complex, although the texts are from two different genres with probably different kinds of readers. In order to understand the meanings and the allusions implied in the two texts the reader has to be equipped with knowledge of linguistics, and possess a special schema.
Stylistic analysis of a fragment from novel
Although the fragment from the novel Kokoro by Natsume Soseki is in English the original version was written in Japanese because the author is a Japanese national.
I did not choose the text at random. My background information about Japanese literature in general and this author in special made me have certain expectations when I started reading the book. Other novels that I had read by Nasume Soseki dealt with characters that lost their identity, who were alienated from society. This was due to the writer's own uncertainty about his place in society, having in mind that he was born in 1867, the year before the Meiji Restoration, when the traditional feudal order was dethroned by the Western powers. Thus, before even reading the novel I had a feeling of what the text will be like.
The title of the novel has a crucial meaning to the novel. An important factor in analyzing the title is the fact that I have read the book twice in two different languages, i.e. Romanian and English. The two versions had also two different titles, i.e. "Zbuciumul inimi" for the Romanian translation, and 'Kokoro', the original Japanese title, for the English translation. If we translate both titles in English we would come up with the following titles: "The fussiness of the heart" for the Romanian version, and "The heart" or "The soul" for the English version. There is obviously a striking connection between the two translations. The message that both titles convey makes us believe that the novel is a story about matters of heart. The words that build up the title are very important in the sense that they prepare the reader for a special kind of text. But without the background knowledge about the author we could not precisely guess before reading the novel that the story is about complications that arouse from love. We might think that it is a medical book that deals with the biological description of the human heart.
All the elements that form the text are tightly connected. We cannot take words out of the text without altering the overall meaning. Taken out of the context the literal meaning of individual words is so different than the meaning conveyed in the text as part of a lexical item (e.g. phrase).
For example the following words have a different meaning if we take them out of the phrases they are found in the text, and we treat them as individual words. In all the following cases it is not the literary connection of meanings that forms ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
All the elements that form the text are tightly connected. We cannot take words out of the text without altering the overall meaning. Taken out of the context the literal meaning of individual words is so different than the meaning conveyed in the text as part of a lexical item (e.g. phrase).
For example the following words have a different meaning if we take them out of the phrases they are found in the text, and we treat them as individual words. In all the following cases it is not the literary connection of meanings that forms a whole meaning.
- The verb phrase 'to get tired' implies an annoyance due to waiting. One of the dictionary definitions of the verb 'to get' is 'to have something by buying, borrowing, or receiving it from someone else'. The meaning of the word 'tired' is explained in the dictionary as a feeling of physical or mental exhaustion. So, if we would make a sum of all the literary meanings that these words in the verb phrase convey we could interpret the meaning of the phrase 'to get tired' with the action of 'buying, borrowing or receiving physical or mental exhaustion'. It is obvious that it makes no sense.
- The verb phrase 'to remain silent' has the meaning of 'not speaking'. If we dissect the meanings of the words that form this lexical item we can say that 'to remain' means 'not to go anywhere, but stay somewhere' and 'silent' is when 'a person or a thing does not make any sound'. The literal sum of the meanings these words independently convey would be illogical.
- The verb phrase 'to make up' can have many meanings, some of which are 'to put powder on the face', 'to become friends again', 'to decide' etc. As separate words, 'to make' stands for 'putting something together, or creating something, or changing something into something else', while 'up' refers to a place that is in contrast to a low one. This is a good example to demonstrate the fact that the meaning of individual words cannot be taken out of the context. Lexical items can be polysemic, thus making them even more difficult to be separated from the context.
- The verb phrase 'to take a quick glance' stands for 'looking for a short while at something'. As individual words, 'to take' can mean 'to get something using the hands', ' to carry or bring', 'to have', 'to need' etc; 'quick' stands for 'something that happens fast or in a short time'; 'glance' means 'to look at something for a short period of time'. Given all these possibilities it is obvious that the verb phrase could have so many illogical meanings. Taken out of the lexical item that they are part of, the meanings of words can be so different.
All these examples prove the fact that we cannot treat words and lexical items as individual parts when found in a text. The meanings that they express out of the context are not the same with the meanings they express when considered as a unity and part of a text. The words that formed all the above phrases are elements without which the more complex lexical items could not have been build.
The text is composed of long and short sentences. The reader cannot grasp the overall meaning of a sentence just by summing up the dictionary definition of the words present in a sentence. At a sentential level the meaning conveyed by a sentence does not rely only on the author's ability in making himself clear. Literature does not have to be clear. And depending on the receiver, the message might be obvious for some readers, while for others might be opaque.
To give just one example that better illustrates the above mentioned ideas I have decided to analyze the following chain of sentences from the text: 'I do not know what strange forces were at work that night; for I, who had always slept with my feet pointing towards the west, decided that evening to arrange my bedding so that my feet would point towards the east.'
- The sentence 'I do not know what strange forces were at work that night; ...' can have an ambiguous meaning if taken out of the text. First of all we do not know who 'I' is, and we do not know what 'night' is the addresser taking about. But even in the text, the sentence can give the addressee some difficulties when s/he is faced with the task of identifying the meaning of the 'strange forces' that 'were at work'. The writer probably wanted to make the reader understand that life is governed by a 'divine presence' who makes itself present by such notions as 'destiny' or 'karma'. This is my interpretation that comes from my own believes and education regarding life in general. Any other reader might come with another, maybe better, view of what the author wanted to express. All these different interpretations that readers come up with are due to the writer's use of language, and the receivers' own personal experience and feelings.
- The following sentence asks the reader even more concentration and literary affinity than the one analyzed before: '...for I, who had always slept with my feet pointing towards the west, decided that evening to arrange my bedding so that my feet would point towards the east.' Out of the context the sentence is illogical and not clear. Some ignorant readers not familiarized with the Asian culture in general and the different Japanese religious sects in special could not make any sense of this sentence. In analyzing the first part of the sentence we have to understand what 'to sleep with one's feet pointing towards the west' means. During the 12th century Honen Shonin, a Japanese monk, founded a very popular sect called the 'Pure Land' Buddhism or Jodo Buddhism. The followers of this sect believed that west is the direction of the Pure Land where the dead abide. According to the sect's teachings to sleep with the feet pointed towards this direction is considered unlucky. So, with this background knowledge, I understand that the author believed in (or maybe just made use of) this religious sect, and thus the main character of Kokoro was also, by association, a follower of the same sect. While Natume Soseki makes proof of deep insights into the teachings of Jodo Buddhism, his character does not, and hence his habit of sleeping with his feet pointing the west. The fact that he unconsciously 'decided that evening to arrange my [his] bedding so that my [his] feet would point towards the east' was probably due to his unrest regarding his friend K. He wanted his luck to change, or better say he wanted to get rid of an obstacle, to get rid of K. He wanted the stars to favor him. This is my interpretation of these sentences. If taken out of the text I might have guessed part of the meaning that the sentence conveys. But it is within the text that I could fully use the schema I have about the author and his place of origin.
The text is cohesive because there are ties and connections that bind the sentences together. There are connections present in the text in the use of pronouns, which are used to maintain reference via anaphora to the same people and things: I - I - my. Almost all the sentences have reverence to the personal pronoun 'I', thus making the sentences cohesive. There are lexical connections such as Saturday night - that night - in the night or shadowy figure - a man - his back - his body. The more general connections are created by a number of terms which share a common element of meaning, like 'house': door - room - doorway - counterpane, or 'light': shadowy - dim - lamplight - half-light - darken. There are also connectors which mark the relationship of what follows to what went before: but, however. The verb tenses in the text are mainly in the past, due to fact that it is a story that narrates something that happened in the past, thus creating a connection between those events. The are a few interpolations of verbs in the present tense (e.g. 'I do not know what...'), the present perfect tense (e.g. 'Like a man who has been suddenly...') and future (e.g. 'Tomorrow, I will make up my mind...') caused by general truths, actions that continue their effect in the present, and, respectively, the use of reported speech.
Analyzing all these cohesive links within the text gives us an insight into how the writer structured what he wanted to say. These links are one of the factors that counted in my judgement when I decided that the text is well-written in a complex style. But we have to remember that the text we are analyzing is a translation, and the conventions of cohesive structure might differ from one language to another, in our case from Japanese to English.
I consider that the text is also coherent due to the fact that we understand, or at least have our own interpretation of the writer's message. Coherence is not something that we can find in the text, but depends a lot on our experience and the way we see the world. I found this text coherent due to a number of factors. Firstly, I have read the entire book twice, in two different languages. Secondly, I did some research on the writer's life and literary activity right after reading the book for the first time in Romanian. Thirdly, I have read and wrote extensively about Japanese culture and civilization, fact that made me have a certain affinity towards anything connected to Japan. And lastly, my experience in reading Japanese literature familiarized me with some of the major topics of Japanese literature, such as the lost of identity. The text requires interpretation from the reader's part and if s/he does not have the necessary tools to decode the message the meaning of the text might be different than mine.
We also have to remember that this fragment is taken out from the pages of a whole novel, thus the fragment might not make sense at a first glance. This is due to the fact that we have taken the text out of its context, and thus we deprive the readers from many important elements that gravitate around the full text.
Stylistic analysis of an article
The second text is the article Romania gains reputation as nexus of cybercrime, published in Bangkok Post on October 28, 2003.
The article presents a controversial topic that has become an international problem. This topic refers to that part of computer and Internet users who have become highly proficient in exploiting the shortcomings of the World Wide Web.
The rubric of the newspaper where the article was published is entitled FOCUS / CRIMINALS LOG ON. Thus, from the very beginning the reader has a hint what the article is about, i.e. Internet crime. While the lexical item 'focus' is a neutral word used by journalists when writing articles that concentrate their main interest on a specific problem, the other words make the reader more curious, and maybe more willing to go on reading the article. In a world obsessed by violence with all the news stations and agencies presenting shocking events like wars, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and crimes, it is not uncommon for an article to express opinions about criminals. But in our case the writer of the article focuses on a specific type of crime, nicely suggested in the rubric: CRIMINALS LOG ON. The verbal phrase 'log on' immediately connects our thoughts with the world of computers and Internet. Thus, the reader presupposes what the article is about, people who commit crimes using computers and the Internet.
An important psychological factor is the choice of layout and script. Although written with a small font size, the publishers used upper-case letters visibly underlined by the use of bold style, thus drawing the readers' attention on this specific article. It is also important to mention the fact that the article was published on the "Opinion & Analysis" page of Bangkok Post, thus the content of the article is the writer's personal opinion and not the publishers' view regarding this topic. But still, it is the publishing team who decided to place the article on the upper part of the page so as to better draw the readers' attention.
The article has a very powerful headline: Romania gains reputation as nexus of cybercrime. It is an efficient way of connecting the article with the topic suggested in the rubric. The use of language and vocabulary in this headline has the purpose of convincing the reader that the article will be an interesting and juicy piece of writing to read. The big font size and the bold style of writing are another factor that draws the reader's attention. The writer uses strong and seemingly complicated words in order to demonstrate to the reader the gravity of the topic. The technique used when writing this headline has its own purpose. We have all the elements of a sentence, but the writer wants to preserve it as a headline, thus not using the punctuation mark, full stop. The advantage of using sentences when writing headlines is that the author is thus able to express a complete thought, without any place for interpretation. In our case we have the lexical item 'as' which stands as a connector between the first and the second part of the sentence. Both parts could have been a good headline for the article: Romania gains reputation and Nexus of cybercrime, but in these cases the reader could have speculated the message, as having a positive connotation (the first part) or a negative one (the second part). The reader does not have such a liberty. The writer wants to make a stand from the very beginning, i.e. the article will present the negative side of the topic. It is a reinforcement of the rubric, but with new elements.
The use of vocabulary is also very suggestive. The words 'nexus' and 'cybercrime' have the meaning conveyed in 'criminals log on' from the rubric. The word 'nexus' which stands for link or connection sounds rather sophisticated, but perfectly fits the topic. 'Cybercrime' definitely hints at the use of computers in order to commit crimes, but it also implies a very proficient way of doing it by the use of 'cyber' which makes us think of high-tech devices. In a world obsessed by terrorism the reader might even connect the headline with terrorist activities (nexus + crime = terrorism). The first part of the headline introduces the name of the country. The author implies that this country is somehow responsible for such a threat by using the words 'gain' and 'reputation'.
The article has a very strong headline in which the author chooses to use specialized words in order to pose as an authority and be more convincing.
The lead of the article answers the questions to the 4W's - what, when, where and how: Computer savvy young Romanians are causing havoc across the world and often earn huge profits from extortion and swindles. What? Young Romanians good at computers. When? The use of present tense continuous suggests that they are in the process of doing this action, thus underlying the fact that they are a present threat to society. Where? Across the world. How? By extortion and cheating. We presuppose they are using the Internet in order to commit their crimes. This presupposition is based on the already mentioned fact that they are good at computers. However, the lead stops short of answering the question why?, thus proving that the author is a good professional. The lead in its italicized form and decorative typeface gives the reader the feeling that the message is speech-like, thus trying to build a connection between the writer and the reader.
The vocabulary used is again very powerful. The words the author chooses create the necessary emotive excitation that will eventually make us go on reading. For example: 'are causing havoc', 'earn huge profits', 'extortion and swindles'. All these phrases raise the readers' interest. The young Romanians are clearly identified being the source of such criminal behaviour. This is where the language used is biased. The author immediately tries to make us believe that all young Romanians who are good at computer are at the same time crooks.
The writer of the article was present in the country where the events took place. This is explicitly underlined under the writer's name: Bucharest, Romania. It is important to mention the fact that the writer of the first article is not Romanian. Thus the chance of misunderstandings and biased information is higher.
The selection of info and vocabulary in the article is biased. The writer organized each paragraph in such a way so as to demonstrate the threat that the Romanian hackers represent to the world security. In his arguments he uses emotive language that reflects his own opinions.
In order to make the article juicier the writer uses different linguistic devices like labeling and name-calling. A few examples go as follows: the hackers are "a bold menace in the shadowy world of cybercrime" - meaning that not only they are a threat to society, but they also are part of a mysterious criminal underground culture. The hackers also "extort" money and information and had the ability to "roam freely around the server" - giving the reader the impression that they are like vandals. The hackers are also called: "extortionist", "cybercriminals", "a new breed" and "a threat".
The hackers are associated with the world of terrorism. The author is trying to imply that they might unleash a "Sept 11 of cybercrime". This statement is biased and unsupported by arguments. The hackers have never tried to physically harm any of their cyber targets. Further on, the hackers are considered "a loosely organized group but increasingly aggressive network... conspiring with accomplices..." - the writer uses emotive language unsupported by facts, only by suppositions and by contorting the information given by the Romanian authorities. The hackers helped by "accomplices in Europe and the United States... steal millions of dollars... by defrauding consumers... extorting cash... hacking into their system". Although these examples are taken only from the first part of the article, the reader has already either been trapped into the writer's web, and thus takes a stance against all Romanian young computer users, or detaches from the emotional language used and tries to extract just the facts and unbiased information.
The way the writer decided to organized and select his info is another sign that he wanted to demonize as much as possible the Romanian hackers. Thus, Romanians are compared with other Eastern European counties such as Russia, Bulgaria, Poland and Slovenia which already have or had a bad reputation in the West due to economical and political problems.
The most outrageous device used by the writer in order to convince his readers is the use of stereotyping. He presents the history of Romania as being a faulted one due to "the former regime, when the late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu saw computers as a way to advance communist ideology". It is strange how the author decided to distort historical facts in order to suit his purpose. He forgot that at a point all the Eastern European countries tried to keep up with the western technology, as the whole world did. And it is not a dictator's fault that Romanians are intelligent people. The first stereotype in this article lies in the belief that the writer considers everything that Ceausescu had initiated a mistake.
The second stereotype is the belief that all Romanians are blood sucking vampires: "a dark side: internet vampires who prey on victims half a world away". The words the author uses have a profound impact on the common reader. What the writer implies is that Romania has never got rid of vampires and now they have adapted to the modern world and redirected their bloody fangs. Although it might have been intended as a metaphor, it still remains an obvious stereotype. The writer uses twice the noun phrase "dark side" when referring to the world of hackers, a clear comparison with the Dark Ages, Count Dracula and vampires. The author does his best in stereotyping Romanians and mentions Transylvania as an area infected by hackers, a clear reference to the Dracula's story. The final two paragraphs of the article contain the following key words: "cybercriminals", "poltergeist" and "cryptically", a clear indication of what the Romanian hackers should be identified with.
In order to make his article more authoritative, the writer clusters quotes from different sources: experts like the head of the FBI's office in Bucharest, the Chief Inspector of Romanian's national police, and Romanian lawmakers and programmers; reports of the US-based Internet Fraud Complaint Centre, of the National White Collar Crime Centre, and of Romanian data securing companies. These quotes have the purpose of giving the article an official stance. They are artfully blended within the text of the article so as the reader might believe that officials also share the stated opinions.
The writer uses three verifiable examples of frauds committed by Romanian hackers that stand to support the general concern regarding this topic.
As Romanian I do not agree with the opinions expressed in the article. I do not question the few facts presented, but I am positively sure that the writer has no idea what Romanian culture, history and tradition really means. Regardless of my feelings, the article was masterfully written in a complex style, that definitely persuades the unadvised reader.
Conclusions
In this paper I have examined multiple motives for the stylistic choices in the two sample texts. Taken all together, these motives produce an effect far more impressive and moving than any description of the same scene or topic in ordinary, careless style. Since the scene in the novel occurs at the most important moment of the novel, and the topic of the article has a large interest, the impact of the two texts comes greatly into effect. The authors chose a complex style in the hope that they would keep the scene or the topic clearly in the readers' memory.
Stylistic analysis is practiced as a part of understanding the possible meanings in a text. It is a useful discipline which encourages logical and creative thought and can be transferred to many other areas of academic study, such as discourse analysis or critical reading. The fact that stylistic analysis can be applied to a large variety of texts, as shown above, makes it a useful and important discipline.
Bibliography
. Lodge, D. (1992) The Art of Fiction. London: Penguin Books.
2. Montgomery, M. et al. (2001) Ways of Reading. London: Routledge.
3. Whiteley, C. (2002) The Everything Creative Writing Book. Avon: Adams Media Corporation.