[Download] "Indirect Discourse in German, Russian, And English (Report)" by CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free

📘 Read Now     📥 Download

eBook details

• Title: Indirect Discourse in German, Russian, And English (Report)
• Author : CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture
• Release Date : January 01, 2009
• Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines,Books,Professional & Technical,Education,
• Pages : * pages
• Size : 207 KB

Description

The main argument in my article is that contradictory narration in a past tense narrative requires the transposition of verbs to the past tense in indirect discourse. Languages that do not have transposition, such as Russian, also do not permit contradictions in narration. An ancillary argument is that languages without transposition potentially allow the authorial narrator (hereafter: commenting narrator) and characters to discourse equally on the narration and be certain about the source of that narration. By transposing indirect discourse to the subjunctive, as in German, this mode leaves narration uncorrupted and has the potential to elevate indirect discourse above other discourse by virtue of the timeless subjunctive form. Here is a simple sentence for comparison: He knew (that) she was pretty / On znal, cto ona krasiva / Er wusste, dass sie schon sei. This basic sentence in these three languages represents the typical form of indirect discourse in preterit narratives, in the case of German prior to preterit indirect discourse (e.g., in Goethe, Kleist, etc.). The focus here is on the relationship between narration (he knew) and indirect discourse (she was pretty). For indirect discourse to penetrate and thereby influence narration, it requires the tense of these two modes to be indistinguishable. The preterit of narration and transposed indirect discourse (governed indirect discourse and narrated monologue) in English facilitates this, whereas the present tense of Russian and the subjunctive of German indirect discourse prevent the character from gaining access to narration. At the same time, the clear delineation of discourse and narration gives indirect discourse in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Nikolai Gogol a more prominent place--outside narration. While the English narrator discourses primarily (comments) in the present and his/her characters in both the present (direct discourse) and past (indirect discourse), the narrators in Goethe and Gogol comment in the present and subjunctive just like their characters. The difference is even more prominent with regard to knowing and feeling: the commenting narrator in Henry James knows in the present while the characters can only know in the past due to the absence of a direct discourse mode for knowing; the characters in Goethe and Gogol on the other hand know in the subjunctive and present, again, just like the narrator. In order to develop categories for a clearer understanding of indirect discourse's role in German, Russian, and English, the narrative must be broken down into commentary and diegesis as well as narratext and discourse. Ultimately, this produces part of a model that helps clarify some differences between narrators, narratives, narration and discourse in these languages.

PDF Books "Indirect Discourse in German, Russian, And English (Report)" Online ePub Kindle