Fictional dialogue : speech and conversation in the modern and postmodern novel

226 Pages·2012·1.373 MB·English

by  Thomas, Bronwen

Fictional Dialogue
Frontiers of series editor
Narrative David Herman Ohio State University
Fictional
Dialogue
Speech and Conversation in the
Modern and Postmodern Novel
bronwen thomas
University of Nebraska Press | Lincoln and London
© 2012 by the Board of Regents of the University of
Nebraska
Chapter 2, “The ‘Idea of Dialogue,’” originally
appeared in Imaginary Dialogues in English: Explora-
tions of a Literary Form, ed. Jarmila Mildorf and Till
Kinzel, 203–20 (Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Win-
ter, 2012).
Chapter 8, “Stuck in a Loop? Dialogue in Hypertext
Fiction,” originally appeared in slightly different form
in Narrative 15, no. 3 (2007): 357–72. Copyright © 2007
The Ohio State University. Reproduced with permis-
sion.
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Thomas, Bronwen.
Fictional dialogue: speech and conversation in the
modern and postmodern novel / Bronwen Thomas.
p. cm. — (Frontiers of narrative)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-8032-4451-1 (cloth: alk. paper)
1. American fiction—20th century—History and
criticism. 2. English fiction—20th century—History
and criticism. 3. Dialogue in literature.
4. Conversation in literature. 5. Dialogism (Literary
analysis) 6. Modernism (Literature) 7. Postmodernism
(Literature) I. Title.
ps374.d43t46 2012
823'.90926—dc23 2011044492
Set in Minion Pro by Bob Reitz.
Designed by A. Shahan.
Contents
Preface vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1

part i. theory
1 Debates about Realism 15
2 The “Idea of Dialogue” 36
part ii. narrative cornerstones
3 Speech, Character, and Intention 57
4 Dialogue in Action 74
5 Framing 95
part iii. genre and medium
6 Dialogue and Genre 113
7 The Alibi of Interaction: Dialogue and
New Technologies 129
8 Stuck in a Loop? Dialogue in
Hypertext Fiction 152
Conclusion 170
Appendix 175
Notes 183
Bibliography 187
Index 201

Preface
This study is a direct response to novelist and critic David Lodge’s com-
plaint that dialogue novelists “have been somewhat undervalued by aca-
demic criticism because their foregrounding of dialogue made them
resistant to a method of analysis biased in favour of lyric expressiveness”
(1990, 83). Although it has to be allowed that the dialogue novel’s chief
proponents, including Henry Green, Ivy Compton-Burnett, William Gad-
dis, and Nicholson Baker, have only attracted a cultish or niche following,
the dialogue novel has been and continues to be an important influence
on the twentieth- and twenty-first-century novel. Moreover, while studies
of some of the individual novelists specializing in dialogue might exist,
to date there has been no attempt to contextualize this work as part of a
wider movement or shift in the novel form or to analyze the techniques
for representing dialogue other than in the most superficial of terms. In
this volume I will attempt to provide a new “method of analysis” for fic-
tional dialogue, as well as critiquing existing methods.
I was first attracted to the study of fictional dialogue because I saw in
the writing of English comic novelists from the early decades of the twen-
tieth century an infectious enthusiasm for the exhilarating chaos that
ensues from giving center stage to the free play of character voices. Scenes
of unmediated dialogue seemed to me to provide the reader with precise-
ly that sense of excitement which comes from knowing that “something
unforeseen results, something that would not otherwise have appeared”
(Morson and Emerson 1989, 4). Of course, this is not to say that scenes
of dialogue are not highly stylized and contrived affairs, but the open-
ness and playfulness that characterizes them offers something quite dif-
ferent from novels where a narrative voice or presence guides the reader
and provides a sort of lodestar from which events and exchanges may be
charted and navigated.
My interest in fictional dialogue also stemmed from a curiosity about
what happens to the reading process when we shift from being told a story
by a narrating agent of some kind toward seeming to see the action unfold
before us in unmediated exchanges between fictional characters. I was fas-
cinated by what distinguishes this experience from that of reading a play
text, and by the impact of the “gear shifting” (Page 1988) that we as readers
have to negotiate. While many of the dialogues I read were entertaining
and fun, I also found that they posed a challenge to the reader, not only in
the sense of simply working out who is saying what to whom but also in
attempting to figure out what they mean and what their impact is for the
interlocutors. Thus Henry Green’s stated aim to “create life in the reader” by
allowing “the dialogue to mean different things to different readers at one
and the same time” (1992, 140) places an onus on the reader to engage in the
(re)construction of meaning, even where the inane or mundane utterances
of the fictional characters seem to offer scant return for such investment.
Another motivation for my focus on fictional dialogue was the strong
sense of frustration I felt with existing studies and approaches. While end-
less analyses of old stalwarts like Hemingway’s “Cat in the Rain” ([1925]
1987) or “Hills Like White Elephants” ([1927] 1987) exist, and while many
have been happy to expostulate about such and such a writer’s wonder-
ful “ear” for dialogue or to offer blanket prescriptions for what consti-
tutes “good” dialogue, I found that time and again these discussions
either focused on isolated utterances or, in many cases, made no attempt
to engage in any kind of close analysis of the dialogue at all. They also
appeared to overtly or covertly prescribe a certain “idea of dialogue” based
on quite narrow grounds, something I will contest in the following pages.
This study should be of interest to anyone who shares my fascina-
tion with fictional dialogue, but especially those working in the fields of
literary and cultural studies, narratology, stylistics, and linguistics. It is
the first of its kind to combine literary and narratological analysis of fic-
tional dialogue with reference to linguistic terms and models, Bakhtin-
ian theory, cultural history, media theory, and cognitive approaches. It is
also the first study to focus in depth on the dialogue novel and to bring
together examples of dialogue from literature, popular fiction, and non-
linear narratives. For these reasons, I hope to provide the reader with a
fresh approach to the study of fictional dialogue, along with some valuable
new insights into the innovations and delights provided by a wide range
of writers since the early decades of the twentieth century.
viii Preface
Acknowledgments
This book has been a long time in the writing, and I would like to thank
my family, friends, and colleagues for waiting patiently for its comple-
tion. My friends at the Poetics and Linguistics Association in particular
have played a big part in helping me to keep the faith and retain a sense of
humor. I am very grateful to Eric Homberger and Patrick Swinden, who
guided me through my first forays into fictional dialogue, and to Meir
Sternberg, whose meticulous editing of my article on multi-party talk was
instrumental in bringing my work to a wider audience. More recently, I
would like to thank Jim Phelan for his input on my article on hypertext
fiction, and Jarmila Mildorf for inviting me to contribute my piece on
the idea of dialogue for Imaginary Dialogues in English. I am also deeply
indebted to Alan Palmer, who read and commented on several chapters
in draft form. At Bournemouth, I am grateful to Karen Fowler-Watt for
negotiating the time for me to complete the project. I am also very grate-
ful to my editors at Nebraska for their input. Finally, my biggest thanks
go to David Herman, series editor, who first commissioned the volume
and has been incredibly generous with his time and his support for the
project throughout.