OnAnalysisofLettersinVanityFairfromthePerspectiveofDefamiliarization-最新资料

1、On Analysis of Letters in Vanity Fair from the Perspective of Defamiliarization： William Makepeace Thackeray is an English novelist whose novels are known for their satirical themes ， vivid language and detailed characters. Among these novels，Vanity Fair is regarded as his representative work. Takin

2、g lexical ， syntactic and textual levels into consideration ， the author of this paper makes an attempt to analyze letters in Vanity Fair from the perspective of defamiliarization so as to explain how the novel retains the freshness of readers perceptions and makes people rethink profoundly.1 Introd

3、uctionAs a famous novel written by W. M. Thackeray， VanityFair is regarded as a panoramic portrait of British society in early 19th century. It describes a story in which Becky Sharp，a beautiful and intelligent woman from an impoverished family ， attains her end to secure a stable social position an

4、d break into upper classes by hook or by crook. Meanwhile ， Amelia Sedley who is the comparative figure in the novel is portrayed as the tender and cowardly person born in wealthy family and completely dominated byher fate. With honor or disgrace in different periods of their lives ， two protagonist

5、s effectively show their？adverse fortune and reveal peoples woe of obsessionduring the process of seeking profits and rights in the Fair. Among narrative means adopted by the novelist， letterplays an important role to achieve effects of shaping characters ， promo ting plots and arousing readersinter

6、est. In this article ， the author intends to analyze the selected letters written by Miss Pinkerton from the perspective of defamiliarization so as to explain how the novel retains the freshness of readers perceptions andcreates artistic effects.2 Concept of DefamiliarizationAs the core concept of R

7、ussian Formalism coined in early twentieth century ， defamiliarization is systematically accounted and greatly associated through the article ， that is ， Art as Technique by Viktor Sklovsky in 1917. According to Sklovsky，“we can never retain thefreshness of our perceptions of objects； the demands of

8、normal existence require that they must become to a great extent automatized .” （ Selden，2012：33） As a result ， art could be regarded as a special task to giveus back the awareness of the habitual things in our dailylife ， and change our mode of perception from the automatic to the artistic. In Art

9、as Technique ， it is mentioned that “the technique of art is to make objectsunfamiliar ，to make forms difficult ， to increase the difficulty and length of perception， because the process of perceptionis an aesthetic end in itself and must be prolonged. Art is a way of experiencing the artfulness of

10、an object ； the object is not im portant. ”（朱刚， 2001： 9） In this way ， as the major means to achieve literariness，defamiliarization contributes to make art valuable in removing the habituation.3 DefamiliarizationDevices Used in letters in Vanity FairIn Vanity Fair ， letters written by different char

11、acters are of great importance to highlight their language features ， show psychological activities and reveal philosophy of life. In addition ， defamiliarization devices used in lexical ， syntactic and textual levels of letters play significant roles in the system to achieve the literariness of the

12、 novel. As we know， the interconversion between defamiliarization and automatization gradually continues. During this dynamic process ， one of them would eventually turn into the other and the included information of each is enriched with more stimuli of consciousness. In Vanity Fair ， the deviant u

13、ses of language in letters contribute to create unfamiliar and artistic effects to readers. Among those letters ， the author of this article selects two of them sent by Miss Pinkerton to make a persuasive analysis from the perspective of defamiliarization.Case 1： MADAM， After her six years residence

14、 at the Mall ， I have the honour and happiness of presenting Miss Amelia Sedley to her parents， as a young lady notunworthy to occupy a fitting position in their polished and refined circle. Those virtues which characterize the young English gentlewoman ， those accomplishments which become her birth

15、 and station， will not be found wanting in theamiable Miss Sedley ， whose INDUSTRY and OBEDIENCE have endeared her to her instructors ， and whose delightful sweetness of temper has charmed her AGED and her YOUTHFUL companions. In music ， in dancing ， in orthography ， in every variety of embroidery a

16、nd needlework， she will befound to have realized her friends fondest wishes. Ingeography there is still much to be desired ； and a carefuland undeviating use of the backboard ， for four hours daily during the next three years ， is recommended as necessary to the acquirement of that dignified DEPORTM

17、ENT AND CARRIAG，E so requisite for every young lady of fashion. （ Thackeray ， 2008： 4）The first case is an extract from the letter written by Barbara Pinkerton to the mother of Amelia Sedley， inwhich Miss Pinkerton uses four long sentences to evaluate her pupil from several perspectives， such as vir

18、tues ，accomplishments and music. After reading this letter ， readers could find that different from the language adopted in other parts of the novel ， the official and old-fashioned words of the headmistress could effectively excite the surprise of audiences to give their attention to traits of the

19、character. According to Miss Jemima， an autographletter of her sister ， Miss Pinkerton ， is “an object of as deep veneration as would have been a letter from a sovereign. ”（ Thackeray ， 2008： 3） Therefore ， we could regard the letter of this womana s an important tool to show her true features and o

20、bserve the related characters mentioned in letters from her eyes.To start with ，this article focuses on the lexical level of MissPinkerton s letter. On the basis of Oxford AdvancedLearner s English -Chinese Dictionary ， words represented by “residence ”，“honour”，“fitting ”， “wanting ”， “industry ” a

21、nd “obedience ” are usually only adopted in serious or official language and would not be appropriate in normal every day conversation.Taking“obedience ”and“deportment ” as examples ， the former refers to “respect for sb/sth or willingness to obey sb”（ 2009：1371） and the latter means“the way in whic

22、h a personstands and moves”（ ibid ：536）. Although readers could understand that the choice of formal words would show teacher s respect towards parents of students ， the hyperformal use of terms in this letter creates a sense out of ordinary and makes readers rethink the purpose of Thackeray profoun

23、dly. In addition ， the full capitalization of expressions such as“INDUSTR”Yand“OBEDIENC”E，“AGED”，“YOUTHFU”L and “DEPORTMENT AND CARRIAG”E aims at attracting readers attention andstimulating their aesthetic perceptions.longBesides ， defamiliarized effects achieved in the syntactical level help target

24、 audiences reshape the vivid image of Miss Pinkerton in their mind. As to themand compound sentences with about 41 words in each one reveal that the schoolmistress pursues the complex syntactic structure deliberately in the letter to manifest her rigorous scholarship and cultural attainments.Meanwhi

25、le ， the frequent use of parenthesis draws sentences out and increases the cognitive difficulty of readers.Defamiliarization devices also include ornate phrases with aggrandizement effects ， the deviant application of subordinate clause and double negation. For example ， the second sentence in Case

26、1 is written to express the general idea that Miss Sedley ， a girl with virtues and accomplishments ，？ goes down well with her instructors and companions. However ， two subordinate clauses with the parallel structure lengthen the distance between subject and predicate ； double negation represented b

27、y“not befound wanting in the amiable Miss Sedley” leads readersto reflect the specific intention of the writer ； and ornate phrases are strung together to show the orthodox and inflexible style of language in Victorian era.Case 2： The Miss Sharp， whom you mention as governess to Sir Pitt Crawley ， B

28、art. ， M. P. ， was a pupil of mine ， and I have nothing to say in her disfavour. Though herappearance is disagreeable ， we cannot control the operations of nature； and though her parents weredisreputable ( her father being a painter ， several times bankrupt ， and her mother ， as I have since learned

29、 ， with horror ， a dancer at the Opera )； yet her talents are considerable ， and I cannot regret that I received her OUT OF CHARITY. My dread is ， lest the principles of the mother who was represented to me as a French Countess，forced to emigrate in the late revolutionary horrors ； but who， as I hav

30、e since found ， was a person of the very lowest order and morals should at any time prove to be HEREDITARY in the unhappy young woman whom I took as AN OUTCASTB. ut her principles have hitherto been correct ( I believe )， and I am sure nothing will occur to injure them in the elegant and refined cir

31、cle of the eminent Sir Pitt Crawley. (Thackeray ，2008： 92-93 )Case 2 is anextract selected from the letter written by BarbaraPinkerton to Mrs. Bute Crawley. When Becky Sharp becomes the private teacher in Sir Pitt Crawleys mansion house ，her gradual establishment in the good graces of all persons in

32、 the family causes the hostility of Mrs. Bute whose husband is the brother of Mr. Crawley， the baronet. This“little ， eager ， active ， black- faced ” lady treats Becky Sharp as “an artful hussy ” who has “some dreadful designs in view ” and determines to get the bottom of the governess. （Thackeray ，

33、 2008： 90 ） In consequence， she writes a letter hurriedly to Miss Pinkerton to know the background of the young lady. As a letter in reply， Case2 incisively shows the prejudice and dislike of Miss Pinkerton towards Becky.In this part， the author of this article makes anattempt to analyze the extract

34、 from lexical ， syntactic and textual levels so as to make devices of defamiliarization unfolded before readers eyes. First of all， manyderogatory terms are chosen by the writer to express her disapproval or contempt. Different from the way to tell her evaluation directly and candidly ， the headmist

35、ress talks in a roundabout way to have a lash-out at Becky Sharp ， which would produce unfamiliar and ironic effects twice as much. Words such as “disfavour ”， “disagreeable ” and “disreputable ” are some strong cases in point. Moreover ， the full capitalization is applied to realize the function of

36、 emphasis and the implication of these unusual words aims to belittling Becky and putting a higher value on herself ； for instance ， “OUTO FC HARITY”， “HEREDITAR”Y and “AN OUTCAS”T. Besides ， lexical repetition and semantic contrast of modification are used in the letter to retain the freshness of r

37、eaders perceptions. For example， the word “since ” is adopted twice as an adverb in “as I have since learned ” and “as I have since found ” so as to show Miss Pinkerton ， ignorant of Becky s family history at first ， has learned information after getting in touch with the girl and the schoolmistress

38、 does not go along with her.In addition ， devices of defamiliarizationare used insyntactical and textual levels. On the one hand， eachsentence in this letter contains about 45 words on the average ， which is much longer than the sentence written in the modern world and could increase the degree of d

39、ifficulty during process of reading. A good deal of parenthesis ， parallelism and subordinate？clauses areadopted in the case to throw a mist before readers eyesand deliberately show academic attainments of Miss Pinkerton. Furthermore ， additional remarks in this letter reveal the ulterior motive of

40、Miss Pinkerton. The example， that is ，“her father being a painter， several timesbankrupt ， and her mother ， as I have since learned ， withhorror ， a dancer at the Opera ” is agood case in point. The purpose for writing this supplementary information is to confirm t he writer s former words which describe Beckys parents as disreputable persons. The fragmented syntactic ？structure and ellipsis contribute to arouse au