【正文】 ndef init e r ef erence. This i s what happens, for exam ple, at t he begi nni ng of Thom as Har dy’s The Mayor of Cast erbri dge. One eveni ng of lat e summ er , bef ore t he nieenth century had reached one thi rd of i ts span, a young man and woman, the l at ter car yi ng a chil d, wer e appr oachi ng the l ar ge vil lage of Weydon Pri or s, i n Upper Wesex, on foot. The f ir st m ent ion of the man (and by i mpli cat ion t he woman) and t he chi ld have indefi nit e refer ence ( a young man woman, a chi ld) because we have not met them bef ore. As a consequence, we tend to get a dist anced “bi rd’ seye view” of t he char act er s. The ni enth centur y has def ini te r ef erence because Har dy can assum e that his r eaders wi l l al ready know what the phrase ref er s to. But not e that even in t his str ai ghtf or ward descri ption, the vi l age of WeydonPi or s gets defi nite r efer ence f or i ts f ir st ment ion, encouraging us t o pret end to ourselves that we ar e al ready f amil ar wit h it . Hardy i s thus “posit ioni ng ” hi s reader s as people who are f amil iar to some ext ent wi th the vil lage (and hence t he area) but not the char acters. Deixis Because Dei xi s is speaker r el ated it can easi ly be used to indicate part icular , and changi ng, viewpoi nt . In t he fol lowi ng exampl e fr om The Secret Agent , we se Mr s. Verl oc’ s act ions f rom Mr . Ver loc’s vi ewpoi nt: Mr . Ver loc heard t he creaky plank in the f loor and was content. He wait ed. Mr s. Ver loc was i ng. In addit ion t o the per cepti on and cognit ion ver bs heard and wai ted and t he indicati on of hi s inner ment al st at e ( was content) we can see t hat Mr s. Ver loc’s m ovement towar ds her husband is vi ewed fr om Mr. Verl oc’ s posi ti on (ing) . The f act hat t he events ar e only seen fr om Mr. Verl oc’ s viewpoint is str ategical y im por tant at his point i n the novel. He does not r eal ize that his wi f e is about t o kil l hi m. Exercise: to understand the di f erences between point s of vi ew, st udy t he Aesop’ s fable. The Ant and the Gr ashopper Wear y in every li mb, t he ant t ugged over the snow a pi ece of corn he had stor ed up last summ er . It would t ast e mi ght good at di nner t oni ght . A gr asshopper, cold and hungr y, looked on. Final y he could bear it no longer. “Please, fr iend ant, may I have a bit e of cor n?” “What wer e you doing al l ast sum mer?” asked t he ant . He l ooked t he gr ashopper up and down. He knew it s kind. “I sang fr om dawn t il l dar k,” r epl ied t he grasshopper , happil y unawar e of what was i ng next . “Wel, ” sai d t he ant , har dl y botheri ng to conceal his contempt , “since you sang al l summ er , you can dance al l wint er .” He who i dl es when he is young wi l have not hi ng when he i s ol d. QUESTIONS I n what poi nt of vi ew is the f abl e nar rat ed? Rewr it e the f able in thi rd per son, sel ect ive omni scient point of vi ew. Fi rst person point of vi ew ( the ant bei ng the nar ator ). Fir st per son poi nt of view (t he grasshopper being t he nar rat or ) . Obj ect ive point of view. Chapter Si x St yl e What i s Styl e? “Proper words i n proper places, makes t he tr ue def i ni ti on of a st yle.” Jonathan Swif t’ s r em ar ks lead us gener al ly t o t hi nking of modes of expression of a piece of fi ction as t he most character isti c of the author’ s st yle. Thus st yl e gener aly ref er s to how the author uses l anguage in hi s/ her wor k: to t he aut hor’s par ti cul ar ways of managing wor ds that we e to recogni ze as habit ual or cust om ar y. A disti nct ive st yl e mar ks t he work of a fi ne wri ter : we can tel Lati n expresi on: Sti lus vi rus arguit ( “The st yle pr ocl ai ms t he man”) , and f or thi s mat er we ar e f am il iar wit h t he experi ence of t rying t o gues t he aut hor of a pi ece of wr it ing on t he evi dence of his/her language. Actual y, styl e is a bi nat i on of two el em ent s, t he idea to be expr essed and t he li ngui st ic t rai ts or char act eri st ics of the author. I t is, as J .R. Lowel l said, “the establi shment of a per fect mutual under st andi ng bet ween the wor ker and his m at eri al ”. However, t her e has never been an agreement on the exact meaning of style in t he histor y of li terar y cri tici sm , and t he fur ther nar rowi ng of it s meani ng bri ngs us on t o mor e cont roversi al gr ound, wher e dif f er en。 i n Fl aubert ’s wor ds: “It i s li ke body and soul: f or m and content to me are one.” The di st incti on bet ween what a wri ter wants t o say and how i t i s pr esent ed t o t he r eader under l i es one of t he ear l y and per si st ent concept s of st yl e: st yl e as t he “dr ess of t hought , ” as Wesl ey put i t : St yl e i s t he dr ess of t hought 。 theref ore, the dif f er ent point s of vi ew he m ay adopt over lap each ot her . The table bel ow shows the overl apping bet wen each nar at ive point of view. Schem a or i ent ed l anguage Vi ewpoint is also schem a ori ent ed. I t is wor th not ing t hat dif fer ent part icipants i n t he same sit uation wil l have dif fer ent SCHEMAs, relat ed to t hei r dif ferent viewpoint s. Hence shopkeepers and t hei r customer s wi l have shop schemas whi ch in m any r espects wi l be mi r or im ages of one another, and t he success of shopkeepers wi l l depend in par t on their being able t o take i nt o account the schem as and point s of vi ew of their customers. (I n m y view, the m or e dif fer ent part icipants i n t he same si tuation of a novel, t he more di f er ent vi ewpoi nts wi l appear , and t he more di f e rent schemas wil l appear too.) Besides indicati ng viewpoints by choosi ng what to descr ibe, noveli sts can also indi cate it by how i t is descr ibed, par ticul ar t hrough expr esions