NARRATIVE AND STYLISTIC PATTERNS IN THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLISH NOVEL

I. LITERATURE AND REALITY

Mimesis

Plato

Mimesis = imitation/copy of reality

direct imitation of speech (dialogue)/ vs./ indirect imitation of reality (summarising narration) Copies of reality, mere substitutes for the things themselves may, unfortunately, be false or illusory substitutes that stir up antisocial emotions (violence or weakness) and they may represent bad persons and actions, encouraging imitation of evil. (Mitchell, 1995: 14-15)

Mimesis

Aristotle

Mimesis related to truth and likelihood (not to truth/falsehood) Mimesis = a representational model of reality (not a mere, perfect imitation/copy of reality). The understanding of a piece of writing fictional or non-fictional can only be explained in terms of our existing model(s) of reality that are influenced by:

the structure of fact, explanation, supposition, which draws on our already existing knowledge ; the plausibility of the report, i.e. the possibility of making plausible connections between one act and another. (Leech, 1992: 154)

Mimesis

the written text = a representational model which may turn

out to be more or less faithful to the represented reality

Model of reality Model of reality

Message

Message

Writer encodes

Semantic level Syntactic level Graphological level

Semantic level Syntactic level Graphological level

Reader decodes

Text

Types of fiction

Mimetic literature is based on the idea that the literary work is highly dependent upon the outer

reality to be represented as faithfully as possible.

Paramimetic literature: The external reality is ignored, even surpassed by the work that creates its own referent; otherwise, the fictional universe is created as an allegorical or metaphorical model of some empirical relationships. Antimimetic literature puts forth a definite break with the empirical reality which is replaced by

language as the substance to be moulded by the literary work, thus creating a new, different model of reality. (Zgorzelski, 1984: 302-306)

Realism

in the narrow sense: Realism = an artistic movement spreading throughout Europe especially during the latter half of the nineteenth century (emphasis on telling the truth about ordinary life, about heroes and heroines determined by their social environment). in the broader sense: Realism = a technique, a mode of discourse (The degree of realism of a piece of fiction is definitely influenced by the purpose of the writer and the effect on the reader. Leech, 1992: 152)

Symbolism

the impulse to specify details that can be interpreted as standing for something beyond themselves, something universally important in the human condition. In this sense, the message itself, in literature, becomes a code, a symbolic structure. In the generic framework of a dramatization of general human conflicts, each character, place, incident could be elaborated in such a way as to be

representative, to some extent, of a type or category of human experience. (Leech, 1992:

155-56)

Verisimilitude

the impulse towards individuality verisimilitude or the illusion of reality, i.e., the sense of being in the presence of actual individual things, events, people, and places. (Leech, 1992: 156) Tzvetan Todorov (1974) Verisimilitude defined by:

Symbolism and verisimilitude need not be mutually exclusive. The contribution of the specific detail may be both symbolic and realistic. (Leech, 1992: 156-57)

the relationship of fiction to the contemporary reality to be represented, i.e., to the extra-linguistic material; the relationship to the rules that govern the literary discourse itself, i.e., the acknowledged aesthetic codes.

Credibility. Consistency

Credibility: the likelihood, hence believability, of the fiction as a potential reality, given that we apply our expectations and influences about the real world to fictional happenings. (Leech, 1992: 157) Consistency: an unfamiliar reality which obeys its own set of laws is more credible than one which does not. (Leech, 1992: 158)

Consider the following excerpt and discuss it in terms of the type of literature it is representative for. Add to your comments remarks regarding the type/ function of details in the framework of the kind of realism that it illustrates:
a) In search of a place proper for this, I found a little plain on the side of a rising hill, whose front towards this little plain was steep as a house-side, so that nothing could come down upon me from the top. On the one side of the rock there was a hollow place, worn a little way in, like the entrance or door of a cave but there was not really any cave or way into the rock at all. On the flat of the green, just before this hollow place, I resolved to pitch my tent. This plain was not above a hundred yards broad, and about twice as long, and lay like a green before my door; and, at the end of it, descended irregularly every way down into the low ground by the seaside. It was on the N.N.W. side of the hill; so that it was sheltered from the heat every day, till it came to a W. and by S. sun, or thereabouts, which, in those countries, is near the setting. Before I set up my tent I drew a half-circle before the hollow place, which took in about ten yards in its semi-diameter from the rock, and twenty yards in its diameter from its beginning and ending. In this half-circle I pitched two rows of strong stakes, driving them into the ground till they stood very firm like piles, the biggest end being out of the ground above five feet and a half, and sharpened on the top. The two rows did not stand above six inches from one another. (Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, 1994: 62)

Consider the following excerpt and discuss it in terms of the type of literature it is representative for. Add to your comments remarks regarding the type/ function of details in the framework of the kind of realism that it illustrates:
b) The last of these voyages not proving very fortunate, I grew weary of the sea,

and intended to stay at home with my wife and family. I removed from the Old Jewry to Fetter Lane, and from thence to Wapping, hoping to get business among the sailors; but it would not turn to account. After three years expectation that things would mend, I accepted an advantageous offer from Captain William Prichard, master of the Antelope, who was making a voyage to the South Sea. We set sail from Bristol, May 4, 1699, and our voyage was at first very prosperous.

() we were driven by a violent storm to the north-west of Van Diemens Land. By an observation, we found ourselves in the latitude of 30 degrees 2 minutes south. Twelve of our crew were dead by immoderate labour and ill food; the rest were in a very weak condition. On the 5th of November, which was the beginning of summer in those parts, the weather being very hazy, the seamen spied a rock within half a cables length of the ship; but the wind was so strong, that we were driven directly upon it, and immediately split. []

Consider the following excerpt and discuss it in terms of the type of literature it is representative for. Add to your comments remarks regarding the type/ function of details in the framework of the kind of realism that it illustrates:
The Country round appeared like a continued Garden, and the inclosed Fields, which were generally Forty Foot square, resembled so many Beds of Flowers. These Fields were intermingled with Woods of half a Stang, and the tallest Trees, as I could judge, appeared to be seven Foot high. I viewed the Town on my left Hand, which looked like the painted Scene of a City in a Theatre. [...] The Emperor was already descended from the Tower, and advancing on Horse-back towards me, which had like to have cost him dear; for the Beast, though very well trained, yet wholly unused to such a Sight, which appeared as if a Mountain moved before him, he reared up on his hinder Feet: But that Prince, who is an excellent Horse-man, kept his Seat, till his Attendants ran in, and held the Bridle, while his Majesty had time to dismount. When he alighted, he surveyed me round with great Admiration, but kept without the length of my Chain. He ordered his Cooks and Butlers, who were already prepared, to give me Victuals and Drink, which they pushed forward in a sort of Vehicles upon Wheels till I could reach them. I took these Vehicles, and soon emptied them all; twenty of them were filled with Meat, and ten with Liquor; each of the former afforded me two or three good Mouthfuls, and I emptied the Liquor of ten Vessels, which was contained in earthen Vials, into one Vehicle, drinking it off at a Draught; and so I did with the rest. (Jonathan Swift, Gullivers Travels, 1998: 6, 15, 16)

Consider the following excerpt and discuss it in terms of the type of literature it is representative for. Add to your comments remarks regarding the type/ function of details in the framework of the kind of realism that it illustrates:
c) Now to any one else I will undertake to prove, that all the oaths and imprecations which we have been puffing off upon the world for these two hundred and fifty years last past as originals except St. Paul's thumb God's flesh and God's fish, which were oaths monarchical, and, considering who made them, not much amiss; and as kings oaths, 'tis not much matter whether they were fish or flesh; - else I say, there is not an oath, or at least a curse amongst them, which has not been copied over and over again out of Ernulphus a thousand times: but, like all other copies, how infinitely short of the force and spirit of the original! it is thought to be no bad oath and by itself passes very well 'G-d damn you.' Set it beside Ernulphus's 'God almighty the Father damn you God the Son damn you God the Holy Ghost damn you' you see 'tis nothing. There is an orientality in his, we cannot rise up to: besides, he is more copious in his invention possess'd more of the excellencies of a swearer had such a thorough knowledge of the human frame, its membranes, nerves, ligaments, knittings of the joints, and articulations, - that when Ernulphus cursed no part escaped him. 'Tis true there is something of a hardness in his manner and, as in Michael Angelo, a want of grace but then there is such a greatness of gusto! (Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy, 1997: 149)