Compare: The first chapters of Bill Bryson’s “The Lost Continent” & Samuel Johnson’s “Rasselas”.
Compare: The first chapters of Bill Bryson's "The Lost Continent" & Samuel Johnson's "Rasselas".
The Lost Continent and 'Rasselas' are both underlying satires, 'Rasselas' with its subtle irony and The Lost Continent with its explicit humour. Therein lies the major difference between the two pieces of prose: one is implicit and the other is not.
GRAMMAR
'Rasselas' is prescriptive and 'The Lost Continent' is descriptive. The effect this has on the text is that 'Rasselas' seems more dated and sophistication. This contrast can be seen in the first chapter:
'The Lost Continent':
"There's a New Jersey couple up the street from my parents' house whom you see wandering around from time to time looking faintly puzzled but strangely serene."
'Rasselas':
"Ye who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy, and persue with eagerness the phantoms of hope; who expect that age will perform the promises of youth, and that the deficiencies..."
Immediately, the differing styles are clear. 'The Lost Continent's first chapter contains shorter sentences, and considerably less abstract nouns. This striking fact lead to a certain detachment between the reader and the story, but this is offset by the 'first person narrative' factor. This factor is this: 'Rasselas' is in the third person: this means that Johnson can actively explore the unknown; for example, other people's feelings, thoughts etc. In 'The Lost Continent', however, because the narrative is in first person, not only is the action given a more personal tint, the range of subject is somewhat limited: the writer's thoughts only are explained. This is because the piece is posed as a commentary from Bill Bryson.
LEXIS
Specialist words: 'Rasselas': old style words (spelling): "Emperour", -"ick" instead of "ic" - e.g.: 'musick'. Words not usually exercised today: Page 1: "credulity", "whispers of fancy", "phantoms" of hope" etc. The sentences in 'Rasselas'' are lengthy, as are those in Bill Bryson's 'The Lost Continent'. 'The Lost Continent' is 20th C, so most words are different. 'Rasselas': archaic, traditional parlance, unnecessary, almost pompous verbosity in sentences. 'The Lost Continent', however, is unambiguous and subjectively banal in its lexis. However, another major difference is that one book is modern-American and the other is 18th C English. In ...
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LEXIS
Specialist words: 'Rasselas': old style words (spelling): "Emperour", -"ick" instead of "ic" - e.g.: 'musick'. Words not usually exercised today: Page 1: "credulity", "whispers of fancy", "phantoms" of hope" etc. The sentences in 'Rasselas'' are lengthy, as are those in Bill Bryson's 'The Lost Continent'. 'The Lost Continent' is 20th C, so most words are different. 'Rasselas': archaic, traditional parlance, unnecessary, almost pompous verbosity in sentences. 'The Lost Continent', however, is unambiguous and subjectively banal in its lexis. However, another major difference is that one book is modern-American and the other is 18th C English. In fact, one can be seen as the antithesis of the other.
'The Lost Continent' is more informal than 'Rasselas', perhaps because it is more of a humorist's expression than 'Rasselas', which is more satirical. There is a clear gap in lexis between 'Rasselas' and 'The Lost Continent', and this is not only because of the time gap between them (approximately two centuries):
'The Lost Continent':
Page 19, para 2 lines 1 to 4.
This is very informal, speech-based prose. This means that it is written in the way 'people' talk. 'Rasselas', however:
Page 2, para 1, lines 1 to 3...
The contrast in the lexis and syntax in the opening chapters of both books is stark. There are several features of lexis between 'The Lost Continent' and 'Rasselas': Samuel Johnson uses many abstract nouns (as opposed to Bill Bryson) and Latinate language (which Bryson mostly shuns). Another major difference is that 'The Lost Continent' utilises colloquialism/slang:
Pg 1: "Bobbi", "what a dump", "gas", "cherry-faced"
'Rasselas' contains NO colloquialism and contains S.E. throughout. Johnson prefers to alienate his audience with sophisticated syntax and lexis. The first chapter of 'Rasselas' describes a lot of scenery of Abissinia. In 'The Lost Continent's first chapter, however, we are introduced to Bryson himself, his life so far and his ambitions, all in a self-derogatory, facetious sense. A prominent factor of both books is the unrestrained use of names. On the first two pages alone, we are introduced to EIGHTEEN names/proper nouns. In the entire first chapter of 'Rasselas', there are FOUR names/proper nouns. This is because of the glut of pop culture references in Bill Bryson's piece.
One similarity of these two chapters is the specific lexis: 'The Lost Continent' uses 20th C, American terms, whereas 'Rasselas' contains dated, outmoded words. 'The Lost Continent':
"interstate", "hamburgers", "gas" and "telephone poles"
'Rasselas':
"morrow", "emperour", "verdure" and "superfluities"
However, the second chosen word is not strictly in this category, as it is only spelled differently. One element that becomes obvious is the time gap and complexity of words. The words in 'Rasselas' are viable today, as "superfluities" means "extras", but is not in common usage. The words in 'The Lost Continent', however, could not have been used before the 20th C, because most of new lexis is borne out of technology/innovation.
'Rasselas'' page 1's first two lines has 10 abstract and no other nouns. 'The Lost Continent's first chapter's "New Jersey couple" has 2 abstract nouns and 5 other nouns (proper, common etc.). This shows the way in which both books are structured very well. Bryson stays close to the reader by avoiding abstract nouns and aphorisms that look even remotely serious (through the first person perspective).
Aphorism
There are no aphorisms in the first chapter of either books, perhaps because the writers wanted to bring the reader closer to the prose.
Sentences
Balanced Sentences - There are many balanced sentences in the first chapter of 'Rasselas': the aforementioned first paragraph of the chapter, then:
Page 2, para2, line 7: "On one part were flocks and herds..."
'The Lost Continent', however, does not have so many balanced sentences. On page 13:
Para 0, line 7.
The sentences in both 'Rasselas' and 'The Lost Continent' are lengthy. However, Bryson balances long sentences with short, flippant sentences. For example:
Page 1, Lines 1 to 9. 1st sentences: 5 words and 3. Third sentence: 65+ words. 4th sentence: 4 words. It can be seen that amongst brief sentences, Bryson nestles verbose sentences.
'Rasselas', however, is verbose throughout. The first line of Chapter I in 'Rasselas' yields more than 30 words, which is comparatively long. Most of the sentences in 'Rasselas' are constituted by more than 30 words. This could be because Johnson intended to 'explain' the East rather than just present it. Bryson, however, wants to trivialise his subjects and so uses short, abrupt syntax. For example:
"Somebody had to." - derisive towards Des Moines.
"Iowa women are almost sensationally overweight." Derisive to Iowa women.
Direct Speech
There is very little direct speech in 'The Lost Continent' and none in 'Rasselas'' respective first chapters. This lead both writers (especially Johnson) being impersonal and detached to their prose.
Americanisms
Bryson uses Americanisms: "viewmaster", "interstate", "Fred Flintstone", "hamburgers" profusely in Tlc. Johnson utilises words in an extended format: "superfluities" from "superfluous".
