Stylistics of the author and of the reader

 The notions of encoding and decoding

Decoding stylistics is the most recent trend in stylistic research that employs theoretical findings in such areas of science as information theory, psychology, statistical studies in combination with linguistics, literary theory, history of art, literary criticism, etc.

Decoding stylistics makes an attempt to regard the esthetic value of a text based on the interaction of specific textual elements, stylistic devices and compositional structure in delivering the author’s message. This method does not consider the stylistic function of any stylistically important feature separately but only as a part of the whole text. So expressive means and stylistic devices are treated in their interaction and distribution within the text as carriers of the author’s purport and creative idiom.

Decoding stylistics helps the reader in his or her understanding of a literary work by explaining or decoding the information that may be hidden from immediate view in specific allusions, cultural or political parallels, peculiar use of irony or euphemy, etc.

 The term ‘decoding stylistics’ came from the application of the theory of information to linguistics by such authors as M. Riffatrre, R. Jacobson, P. Guiraud, F. Danes, Y. Lotman, I. V. Arnold and others.

 In a rather simplified version this theory presents a creative process in the following mode. The writer receives diverse information from the outside world. Some of it becomes a source for his creative work. He processes this information and recreates it in his own esthetic images that become a vehicle to pass his vision to the addressee, his readers. The process of internalizing of the outside information and translating it into his imagery is called ‘encoding’.. The reader is supposed to decode the information contained in the text of a literary work.

 However to encode the information does not mean to have it delivered or passed intact to the recipient. There are more obstacles here than meet the eye. In contrast to the writer who is always concrete the reader who is addressed is in fact an abstract notion, he is any of the thousands of people who may read this book. This abstract reader may not be prepared or willing to decode the message or even take it. The reasons are numerous and various.

 In M. Tsvetaeva’s essay «Poets on Critics» in which she maintains that reading is co-creative work on the part of the reader if he wants to understand and enjoy a work of art. Reading is not so much a hobby done at leisure as solving a kind of puzzle. What is reading but divining, interpreting, unraveling the mystery, wrapped in between the lines, beyond the words, she writes. So if the reader has no imagination no book stands a chance.

 From the reader’s point of view the important thing is not what the author wanted to say but what he managed to convey in the text of his work.

That’s why decoding stylistics deals with the notions of stylistics of the author and stylistics of the reader.

Essential concepts of decoding stylistic analysis and types of foregrounding

Decoding stylistics investigates the levels phonetic, graphical, lexical, and grammatical. It studies expressive means provided by each level not as isolated devices that demonstrate some stylistic function but as a part of the general pattern on the background of relatively lengthy segments of the text, from a paragraph to the level of the whole work. The underlying idea implies that stylistic analysis can only be valid when it takes into account the overall concept and aesthetic system of the author reflected in his writing.

 Ideas, events, characters, emotions and an author’s attitudes are all encoded in the text through language. The reader is expected to perceive and decipher these things by reading and interpreting the text. Decoding stylistics is actually the reader’s stylistics that is engaged in recreating the author’s vision of the world with the help of concrete text elements and their interaction throughout the text.

 One of the fundamental concepts of decoding stylistics is foregrounding. The essence of this concept consists in the following. Foregrounding means a specific role that some language items play in a certain context when the reader’s attention cannot but be drawn to item. In a literary text such items become stylistically marked features that build up its stylistic function.

 There are certain modes of language use and arrangement to achieve the effect of foregrounding. It may be based on various types of deviation or redundancy or unexpected combination of language units, etc.

However decoding stylistics laid down a few principal methods that ensure the effect of foregrounding in a literary text. Among them we can name convergence of expressive means, irradiation, defeated expectancy, coupling, semantic fields, semi-marked structures.

Convergence

Convergence as the term implies a combination or accumulation of stylistic devices promoting the same idea, emotion or motive. A stylistic device is not attached to this or that stylistic effect. Therefore a hyperbole, for instance, may provide any number of effects: tragic, comical, pathetic or grotesque. Inversion may give the narration a highly elevated tone or an ironic ring of parody.

 This «chameleon» quality of a stylistic device enables the author to apply different device for the same purpose. The use of more than one type of expressive means in close succession is a powerful technique to support the idea that carries paramount importance in the author’s view. Such redundancy ensures the delivery of the message to the reader.

 An extract from E. Waugh’s novel «Decline and Fall» demonstrates convergence of expressive means used to create an effect of the glamorous appearance of a very colorful lady character who symbolized the high style of living, beauty and grandeur.

  The door opened and from the cushions within emerged a tall young man in a clinging dove-gray coat. After him, like the first breath of spring in the Champs-Elysee came Mrs. Beste-Chetwynde–two lizard-skin feet, silk legs, chinchilla body, a tight little black hat, pinned with platinum and diamonds, and the high invariable voice that may be heard in any Ritz Hotel from New York to Budapest.

  Inversion used in both sentences (... from the cushion within emerge a toll man;...like the first breath of spring came Mrs. Beste-Chetwynde) at once sets an elevated tone of the passage.

  The simile that brings about a sensory image of awakening together with the allusion to Paris–the symbol of the world’s capital of pleasures–sustains this impression: like the first breath of spring, the Champs-Elysee. A few other allusions to the world capitals their best hotels– New York, Budapest, any Ritz Hotel all symbolize the wealthy way of life of the lady who belongs to the international jet-set distinguished from the rest of the world by her money, beau and aristocratic descent.

 The use of metonymy creates the cinematographic effect of shots and fragments of the picture as perceived by the gazing crowd and suggests the details usually blown up in fashionable newspaper columns on high society life: two lizard-skin feet, silk legs, chinchilla body, a tight little black hat... the invariable voice.

 The choice of words associated with high-quality life style: exotic materials, expensive clothes and jewelry creates a semantic field that enhances the impression still further (lizard, silk, chinchilla, platinum and diamonds). A special contribution to the high-flown style of description is made by the careful choice of words that belong to the literary bookish stratum: emerge, cushions, dove, invariable.

 Even the name of the character– Mrs. Beste-Chetwynde –is a device in itself, it’s the so-called speaking name, a variety of antonomasia. Not only its implication (best) but also the structure symbolizes the lady’s high social standing because hyphenated names in Britain testify to the noble ancestry. So the total effect of extravagance and glamour is achieved by the concentrated use of at least eight types of expressive means within one paragraph.

Defeated expectancy

The essence of the notion is connected with the process of decoding by the reader of the literary text.

 The linear organization of the text mentally prepares the reader for the consequential and logical development of ideas and unfolding of the events. The normal arrangement of the text both in form and content is based on its predictability which means that the appearance of any element in the text is prepared by the preceding arrangement and choice of elements, e.g. the subject of the sentence will normally be followed by the predicate, you can supply parts of certain set phrases or collocation after you see the first element, etc.

 An example from Oscar Wilde’s play «The Importance of Being Earnest» perfectly illustrates how predictability of the structure plays a joke on the speaker who cannot extricate himself from the grip of the syntactical composition:

  Miss Fairfax, ever since I met you I have admired you more than any girl... I have met... since I met you. (Wide)

 The speaker is compelled to unravel the structure almost against his will, and the pauses show he is caught in the trap of the structure unable either to stop or say anything new. The clash between the perfectly rounded phrase and empty content creates a humorous effect.

 Without predictability there would be no coherence and no decoding. At the same time stylistically distinctive features are often based on the deviation from the norm and predictability. An appearance of an unpredictable element may upset the process of decoding. Even though not completely unpredictable a stylistic device is still a low expectancy element and it is sure to catch the reader’s eye. The decoding process meets an obstacle, which is given the full force of the reader’s attention. Such concentration on this specific feature enables the author to effect his purpose.

 Defeated expectancy may come up on any level of the language. It may be an unusual word against the background of otherwise lexically homogeneous text.

 It may be an author’s coinage with an unusual suffix. Among devices that are based on this principle we can name pun, zeugma, paradox, oxymoron, irony, anti-climax, etc.

 Defeated expectancy is particularly effective when the preceding narration has a high degree of orderly organized elements that create a maximum degree of predictability and logical arrangement of the contextual linguistic material.

 Paradox is a fine example of defeated expectancy. The following example demonstrates how paradox works in such highly predictable cases as proverbs and phraseology. Everybody knows the proverb Marriages Are Made In Heaven.

Oscar Wilde, a renowned master of paradox, introduces an unexpected element and the phrase acquires an inverted implication Divorces are made in Heaven, The unexpected ironic connotation is enhanced by the fact that the substitute is actually the antonym of the original element. The reader is forced to make an effort at interpreting the new maxim so that it would make sense.

Coupling

Coupling is another technique that helps in decoding the message implied in a literary work. While convergence and defeated expectancy both focus the reader’s attention on the particularly significant parts of the text coupling deals with the arrangement of textual elements that provide the unity and cohesion of the whole structure.

Coupling is more than many other devices connected with the level of the text. This method of text analysis helps us to decode ideas, their interaction, inner semantic and structural links and ensures compositional integrity.

 Coupling is based on the affinity of elements that occupy similar positions throughout the text. Coupling provides cohesion, consistency and unity of the text form and content.

 Like defeated expectancy it can be found on any level of the language, so the affinity may be different in nature; it may be phonetic, structural at semantic. Particularly prominent types of affinity are provided by the phonetic expressive means. They are obviously cases of alliteration, assonance, paranomasia, as well as such prosodic features as rhyme, rhythm and meter.

 Syntactical affinity is achieved by all kinds of parallelism and syntactical repetition–anadiplosis, anaphora, framing, chiasmus, epiphora to name but a few.

 Semantic coupling is demonstrated by the use of synonyms and antonyms, both direct and contextual, root repetition, paraphrase sustained metaphor, semantic fields, recurrence of images, connotations or symbols.

 The latter can be easily detected in the works of some poets who create their own system of recurrent esthetic symbols for certain ideas, notions and beliefs.

 Some of the well-known symbols are seasons (cf. the symbolic meaning of winter in Robert Frost’s poetry), trees (the symbolic meaning of a birch tree, a maple in Sergei Yesenin’s poetic work, the meaning of a moutain-ash tree for Marina Tsvetaeva), animals (the leopard, hyena, bulls, fish in Ernest Hemingway’s works) and so on. These symbols do not only recur in a separate work by these authors but also generally represent the typical imagery of the author’s poetic vision.

 An illustration of the coupling technique is given below in the passage from John O’Hara’s novel Ten North Frederick. The main organizing principle here is contrast.

  Lloyd Williams lived in Collieryville, a mining town three or four miles from 10 North Frederick, but separated from the Chapins’ home and their life by the accepted differences of money and prestige; the miners’ poolroom, and the Gibbsville Club; sickening poverty, and four live-in servants for a family of four, The Second Thursdays, and the chicken-and-waffle suppers of die English Lutheran Church. Joe Chapin and Lloyd Williams were courthouse-corridor friends and fellow Republicans, but Joe was a Company man and Lloyd Williams was a Union man who was a Republican because to be anything else in Lantenengo County was futile and foolish. (O’Hara)

 The central idea of the, passage is to underline the difference between two men who actually represent the class differences between the rich upper class and the lower working class, So the social contrast shown through the details of personal life of the two characters is the message with a generalizing power. This passage shows how coupling can be an effective tool to decode this message.

 There is a pronounced affinity of the syntactical structure in both sentences. The first contains a chain of parallel detached clauses connected by and (which is an adversative conjunction here). They contain a number of antitheses. The contrast is enhanced by the use of contextual antonyms that occupy identical positions in the clauses: the miners’ poolroom and the Gibbseville Club; sickening poverty and four servants for a family of four, The Second Thursdays and the Church suppers. The same device is used in the second sentence: Joe was a Company man and Lloyd Williams was a Union man. There are a few instances of phonetic affinity, alliteration: four servants for a family of four, courthouse-corridor, friends and fellow Republicans; futile and foolish.

 The passage presents alt interesting case of semantic coupling through symbols. The details of personal and class difference chosen by the author are all charge with symbolic value. There is a definite connection between them all however diverse they may appear at first sight. They are all grouped so that they symbolize either money and prestige or poverty and social deprivation.

 The first group creates the semantic field of wealth and power: money, social prestige, the Gibbsville Club (symbol of wealth, high social standing, belonging to the select society), four live-in servants for a family of four (that only rich people can afford), The Second Thursdays (traditional reception days for people of a certain circle, formal dinner parties for people of high standing), a Company man (a member of a financially and socially influential group, political elite). The second semantic field comprises words denoting and symbolizing poverty and social inferiority: miners’ poolroom (a working class kind of leisure), sickening poverty, chicken-and-waffle suppers of, the English Lutheran Church (implying informal gatherings where people cook together and share food), a Union man (a representative of the working class).

 The similarity of these elements’ positions in this text makes the contrast all the more striking.

 A minor case of coupling in the passage above is the use of zeugma in the first sentence when the word separated is simultaneously linked to two different objects home and life in two different meanings–direct and figurative.

Semantic field

Semantic field is a method of decoding stylistics closely connected with coupling. It identifies lexical elements in text segments and the whole work that provide its thematic and compositional cohesion. To reveal this sort of cohesion decoding must carefully observe not only lexical and synonymous repetition but semantic affinity which finds expression in cases of lexico-semantic variants, connotations and associations aroused by a specific use or distribution of lexical units, thematic pertinence of seemingly unrelated words.

 This type of analysis shows how cohesion is achieved on a less explicit level sometimes called the vertical context. Lexical elements of this sort are charged with implications and adherent meanings that establish invisible links throughout the text and create a kind of semantic background so that the work is laced with certain kind of imagery.

 Lexical ties relevant to this kind of analysis will include synonymous and antonymous relations, morphological derivation, relations of inclusion (various types of hyponymy and entailment), common semes in the denotative or connotative meanings of different words.

 If a word manifests semantic links with one or more other words in the text it shows thematic relevance and several links of this sort may be considered a semantic field, an illustration of which was offered in the previous example on coupling. Semantic ties in that example (mostly implicit) are based on the adherent and symbolic connotations (Church meals, Club member, live-in servants, Union man, etc) and create a semantic field specific to the theme and message of this work: the contrast between wealth and poverty, upper class and working class.

 In the next example we observe the semantic field of a less complicated nature created by more explicit means.

  Joe kept saying he did not want a fortieth birthday party. He said he did not like parties–a palpable untruth–and particularly and especially a large party in honor of his reaching forty...

 At first there were going to be forty guests but the invitation list grew larger and the party plans more elaborate, until Arthur said that with so many people they ought to hire an orchestra, and with an orchestra there would be dancing, and with dancing there ought to be a good-size orchestra. The original small dinner became a dinner dance at the Lantenengo Country Club. Invitations were sent to more than three hundred persons... (O’Hara)

 The thematic word of the passage is party. It recurs four times in these four sentences. It is obviously related to such words used as its substitutes as dinner and dinner dance which become contextual synonyms within the frame of the central stylistic device of this piece–the climax.

 Semantic relations of inclusion by entailment and hyponymy are represented by such words as birthday (party), (party) in honor, (party) plans, invitation (list), guests, people, persons, orchestra, dancing.

 The subtheme of the major theme is the scale of the celebration connected with the importance of the date–the main character reached the age of forty considered an important milestone in a man’s life and career. So there is a semantic field around the figure forty–its lexical repetition and morphological derivation (forty–forty–fortieth) and the word large amplified throughout by contextual synonyms, morphological derivatives and relations of entailment (large–larger–more–many–good-size–more-three hundred).

 Another type of semantic relationship that contributes to the semantic field analysis is the use of antonyms and contrastive elements associated with the themes in question: large–small, forty–three hundred, small dinner–dinner dance, orchestra–good-sized orchestra, did not like–untruth. The magnitude and importance of the event are further enhanced by the use of synonymous intensifies particularly and especially.