8.

1 The discourse situation of literature:

The writer needs to inform his readers about certain fictional
world and needs to achieve identity of viewpoint whereby the
contents of fiction will be interpreted in an appropriate way.
A spoken utterance in discourse situation include certain factors:
 Addresser
 Message for a certain purpose: informing, persuading, reasssuring
 Receiver or addressee
 The message is sent and received within the same time and space,
within the same situational context.
 The addresser and the receiver are normally different, but they
could be the same.
But In a novel or a short story, the writer has the goal of informing the
reader about a certain fictional world, He has also to make a connection
between him and the reader. He has to convey a mind style through
which the fictional world is going to be interpreted. All these aims are to
be achieved within a written medium.
The situational context is different between the author and the reader
so literary message has its degree of redundancy as the writer may
resort to say the same thing in different ways through different
structures. There is one addresser and different receivers whom the
writer knows nothing about them and he is just assuming things about
them
8.1.1 Implied author and implied reader:
Despite the fact that the writer doesn't know the reader, they have
something in common that is general knowledge and experience. such
knowledge makes the reader interpret each line of the novel not only
the common interference (stop breathing means dying) but also the
information related to the general background knowledge of history and
previous literary works which the writer has expected that the reader
will have it while writing his novel.
A writer will also allude to things which it is reasonable to expect the
educated readers of his day to know, but which a later reader (e.g., a
twentieth-century reader of an eighteenth-century novel) will have to
make himself positively aware of. Example: when Fielding wrote
Shamela he assumed that the reader of Shamela is aware of the novel of
"Pamela", in order to realize the satire and the contrast drawn between
Shamela and Pamela.
Moreover, the writer could expect the reader to have certain knowledge
which he doesn't have, so it could be concluded that the addressee in
the literary work is not the reader but it is the "implied reader" or the
"mock reader" according to Wayne Booth. The implied reader is the
hypothetical personage who shares with the reader not just a
background but also a set of presuppositions, sympathies, and
standards.
For a reader to 'suspend his disbelief' and become the appropriate
reader he not just has to make himself aware of certain facts, but also to
make all kinds of allowances (take all factors or circumstances into
considerations), linguistic, social, moral, for the reader whom the author
is addressing.
 Example: When Jane Austen wrote Mansfield Park she could
assumed that the reader is aware of the era when the society was
male-dominated and woman never step forward. So she was
expecting that the reader would appreciate Fanny Pricewho never
tells her beloved Edmund that she loves him and she did nothing
except waiting for him to tell her about his love. But the modern
reader, who is not aware of the nature of nineteenth-century
novel, would not appreciate that.
Booth has also noticed that as there is an "implied reader" between the
reader and the work, there is also an "implied author" between the
author and the text. If there is no such "implied author" all the views
expressed in the work would be expected to express the author himself.
 Example: when Nabokov treats the character of the seducer in a
good manner, this doesn't mean that Nabokov approves men who
seduce girls and we shall not assume so. That's why; some critics
earlier accused writers of insincerity. So as there is a sincerity gap
in the production of the literary work, the same gap has to be
taken into account in work perception.
In conclusion, the literary message doesn't arise in the normal course of
social activity as do other messages; it arises from no previous situation
and requires no response. The discourse situation is embedded one
where an implied author communicates a message separated from an
immediate situational context to an addressee (implied reader) who
can't talk back.
We usually do not know the opinion of the real author except by
inference from what he writes; and there will often be no practical need
for us to distinguish between the reader and the implied reader because
we, as readers, happen to have the requisite knowledge, beliefs, and
preconceptions. Because of this, and for terminological ease, we refer
normally to author and reader. But it should always be borne in mind
that author means implied author and reader means implied reader.

8.1.2 Authors and Narrators

Narrators are of two kinds:
A) First-person narrator. B) third-person narrator.
A) I- narrators
The discourse situation of the novel includes authors, readers and also
narrators. There is a distinction between the author and the narrator.
The narrator may be talking to someone other than the reader. This is
very clear in an I-narration novel such as Emily Brontë’s Wuthering
Heights, which apparently takes the form of a diary which Mr Lockwood
writes to himself.

This narration itself contains long passages reporting Nellie Dean’s

narration of the events of the story to Mr. Lockwood:

It will be noted that Mr. Lockwood appears as an addressee at both level

3 and level 4 in the diagram. He is addressed by Mrs. Dean at the most
embedded level of discourse, and in turn addresses himself when he
reports the conversation in his diary. This collapsing of levels, resulting in
this case in an asymmetrical structure, is very common in novel-writing.
Any novel does not necessarily make use of all the theoretical
distinctions of discourse structure. Some of these theoretical distinctions
are default (do not really exist). Some novels make full use of the
distinction between the author level and the narrator level. In
Richardson’s Clarissa, for example, there are a number of I-narrators and
confidants, none of whom can be assumed to be the author or the
reader.
There can be a series of narrators, each associated with a different
discourse structure. Thus, novels as discourses, can have highly
individual architectures. This is especially when a particular narrator may
address different interlocutors at different points in the story.
In Nabokov’s Lolita, Humbert Humbert’s addressee can be the reader,
the jury at his trial, or even Lolita herself:
The choice of a first-person narrator where the ‘I’ is also a primary
character in the story produces a personal relationship with the reader
which inevitably tends to bias the reader in favour of the
narrator/character. This can be seen very easily in novels like Jane Eyre.
It is even possible by the use of this device to convert the reader to
views he would not normally hold for the duration of the story (hence
the need to postulate an implied reader). In Lolita our sympathy for
Humbert Humbert can be so great that we manage to accept the murder
he commits and his seduction of a minor. It is not however the case that
we have total sympathy with the I-narrator whatever the deed.
B) Third- person narration
Third –person narrator is employed by the novelist to make
'impersonal' style of narration. It is in the third-person. The absence 'I'
invites the reader to assume that there is no explicit 'you'. Most third-
person narrators are omniscient; because they stand in the place of the
implied author and take on his absolute knowledge. When the third-
person narrator forsakes his omniscience, the result is very marked.
It is for this reason that most third-person narrators are, for the
purposes of the fiction, omniscient: because they stand in the place of
the implied author they take on his absolute knowledge. This can be
seen most clearly by comparing the first- and third-person narrations in
novels like The Sound and the Fury and Bleak House, which have both
types within a single work. Indeed, when the third-person narrator
forsakes his omniscience for some reason or other, the result is very
marked. In Bleak House, when he is recounting the death of Mr
Tulkinghorn, Dickens pretends that he does not know that the event has
occurred, putting himself in the position of passer-by who realizes step
by step what has happened: ‘What’s that? Who fired a gun or pistol?
Where was it?’ The typical declarative structure of the narrative
sentence is replaced by a series of questions in which the focus of
interrogation gradually becomes more clear.
We have unusual stance of the narrator by using questions. We
normally expect third-person narrator to relate events by using
statements. Questions imply both an asker and an addressee who has
the power to react and reply. This makes direct addresses to the reader
who is invited to share the author's insight.
The author makes his presence felt, guiding the reader towards
particular judgments on characters and events.
The author might choose to make a consistent use of the third-
person narrator, "appear to disappear". Of course, he can not disappear
altogether because a message implies an addresser who has produced it
– Because messages are communicated by on addresser, the novelist
can never let the novel tell itself.
But he can make it appear to do so by the choice of one linguistic feature
rather than another.
8-1-3 Narrators and Characters:

This section refers to the forth level of discourse structure or in other

words the fourth kind of relations that holds between “Narrator” and
“Character”. This level applies to the conversations which the characters
have with one another and which that narrator reports.
Third-Person narration separates ‘characters’ from ‘narrators’ e.g.
Conrad’s Nostromo where the main theme i.e. hero’s isolation from his
friends is reflected through the misunderstanding arose via their
conversation. Nostromo misinterprets Signora’s expression of her being
“upset” (i.e. adj.) as an attempt to “upset” (i.e. verb) him. This is obvious
in a change in the use of upset: Giorgio uses it as an adjective, attributing
that quality to his wife, but Nostromo uses it as a verb, as if he is the
affected and Signora Teresa the affecting participant.

The use of third-person narration generally separates the level of

character discourse from that of narrator discourse. But the choice of
a first-person narration allows a further kind of merger of roles. In
Bleak House, the Esther Summerson narration is told through the eyes
of someone who is also a character in the story. In Faulkner’s As I lay
Dying there is a whole series of I-narrations by narrator characters.
 A traditionally favoured device which allows a series of I-narrations
from different characters is the epistolary novel, in which the fictional
world is presented to the reader by a series of letters from one
character to another. In all these cases, as in most I-narration novels,
there is a merger of the character’s and narrator’s levels of discourse.
This kind of conflation is very marked, for example, in Richardson’s
Clarissa, the letter written form Anna to Clarissa contains a complex
discourse structure where Anna’s addressee is distributed to three
levels: Clarissa, Anna’s mother and Anna (i.e. taking to herself).
Moreover, the ambiguity and complexity of interpretation increase
further as there are cases where these three level overlap with one
another without any signal of transition. However, the artistic
relevance of this overlap of the levels of discourse lies in conveying
the “confusion” and “immediacy” of the situation.

8-2 Point of View and Value Language:

Discoursal point of view: refers to the relationship, expressed through

discourse structure, between the ‘implied author’ or some other
addresser and ‘the fiction’. This leads on naturally to the consideration
of other important terms such as: irony, tone and distance which imply
attitude and judgment.
One way an author can convey his point of view is through “direct
address”. Another way by which authorial view is delivered is via the use
of “value language” that is one aspect of a writer’s control of a ‘reader’s’
attitude to the elements of the fiction via a language which expresses
some element of value either in sense or in connotations.
An example is seen in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, she clearly
puts down her view of both Mr and Mrs John Dashwood in describing
them using a large proportion of ‘nouns’ and ‘adjectives’. looking more
carefully, we can distinguish different scales or spheres of value:
1- There is a sphere of moral disposition (ill-disposed, cold hearted,
selfish, amiable, narrow-minded);
2- There is also a purely social scale of accepted behaviour, of standing
in the community (respected, propriety, duties, respectable).
3- A third evaluative sphere is the emotive, it makes a brief appearance
with the word fond, which is expressive of a positive emotive attitude:
when we learn that John Dashwood was ‘fond of his wife’, it acts as a
mitigation of his moral failings.
A more complex characterization is afforded by Jane Austen’s Emma
where she depicts a complex double-edged value picture of Emma
through the marked use of language in the description of Emma
provided at the very beginning of the novel. Austen describes Emma
using three parallel adjectives that are not all of the same type i.e.
‘Handsome’, ‘clever’ (attributes) and ‘rich’ (conferred by birth). Similarly,
she coordinates two parallel phrases ‘comfortable home’ and ‘happy
disposition’ to suggest that Emma’s happy disposition is somewhat the
result of her comfortable home. This might also lead to the causal
relation between handsomeness, cleverness and wealth. However, in
the subject noun phrase, the merit of ‘best blessings of existence’ is
undermined via the ‘artificial’ use of alliteration and assonance.
Moreover, in the verb phrase, the factive verb ‘unite’ is dominated by
the non-factive ‘seem’, suggesting the disparity between appearance
and reality (i.e. a complex image of contrasting values).

The Value Picture: refers to the evaluative counterpart of the mock-

reality which it conveys. It is derived, like the fiction itself, not only from
direct statement and attribution but from other clues which rely on the
inferences the readers draw from characters’ speech and behavior. For
example, when Mr and Mrs Dashwood, after their aforementioned
description, go on to deprive Mr Dashwood’s mother of her share in her
husband’s inheritance, our negative opinion of them is confirmed. This
kind of inference may be called ‘value inference’ in extension of the
term ‘inference’ applied to ‘mock reality’. The writer depends on shared
values and judgments of his readers in order to instigate a certain
response or impression of them, but he can't rely heavily on this as he
relies on factual knowledge because shared judgments differ according
to the place and time the fiction is presented within. Finally, in
employing this feature, the writer builds up his value picture on an
association between shared experience, understanding, sympathy and
shared values.