Semiotics of the Drama and the Style of Eugene O'Neill

169 Pages·1989·13.24 MB·English

by  Mark Kobernick

SEMIOTICS OF THE DRAMA
AND THE STYLE OF EUGENE O'NEILL
FOUNDATIONS OF SEMIOTICS
General Editor
ACHIM ESCHBACH
(University of Essen)
Advisory Editorial Board
Herbert E. Brekle (Regensburg); Geoffrey L. Bursill-Hall (Burnaby, B.C.)
Eugenio Coseriu (Tübingen); Marcelo Dascal (Tel-Aviv)
Lambertus M. de Rijk (Leiden); Max H. Fisch (Indianapolis)
Rudolf Haller (Graz); Robert E. Innis (Lowell, Mass.)
Norman Kretzmann (Ithaca, N.Y.); W. Keith Percival (Lawrence, Kansas)
Jan Sulowski (Warszawa); Jϋrgen Trabant (Berlin)
Volume 19
Mark Kobernick
Semiotics of the Drama and the Style of Eugene O'Neill
SEMIOTICS OF THE DRAMA
AND THE STYLE OF EUGENE O'NEILL
MARK KOBERNICK
JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY
AMSTERDAM/PHILADELPHIA
1989
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kobernick, Mark.
Semiotics of the drama and the style of Eugene O'Neill / Mark Kobernick.
p. cm. -- (Foundations of semiotics, ISSN 0168-2555; v. 19)
Bibliography: p.
1. O'Neill, Eugene, 1888-1953 -- Style. 2. Semiotics and literature. 3. Drama. I. Title. II.
Series.
PS3529.N5Z678 1989
812'.52--dcl9 89-220
ISBN 90 272 3291 1 (alk. paper)
© Copyright 1989 - John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or
any other means, without written permission from the publisher.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank scholars and friends who have encouraged or inspired
this work. It could not have been done without them. Especially Richard
W. Bailey of the University of Michigan generously has given advice
throughout.
Table of contents
Acknowledgments ν
List of figures ix
List of appendices xiii
1. Introduction: the purpose and design of this study 1
2. Stylistics in relation to linguistics and semiotics 5
3. The semiotics of the drama 13
4. Approaching the drama of O'Neill through semiotic stylistics 25
5. Establishing a controlled semiotics for the dramatic microcorpus 33
6. A representative segment analysis: Anna Christie I.vi 41
7. Concluding discussion of Desire Under the Elms 67
8. Concluding discussion of Long Day's Journey into Night 75
9. Conclusion: summary of findings at the level of the microcorpus 79
Appendices 111
Notes 143
Bibliography 153
List of Figures
la. Jakobson's diagram of the constituent factors of the speech
event 17
lb. Jakobson's diagram of the language functions of the speech
event 18
2. Jakobsonian diagram of constituent factors in the dramatic/
theatrical event 20
3. The elements of the dramatic and the theatrical texts 21
4. Relationship among the plays by period and setting 27
5. Relationship among the plays by setting 27
6. Relationship among the plays by dramatis personae listing 29
7. Relationship by setting/dramatis personae listing 29
8. Relationship among the plays by historical setting/dramatis
personae listings/motif, expulstion 30
9. Relationship among the plays by historical setting/dramatis
personae listing/motif, expulstion/unity of place 31
10. Four superimposed matrices for the early- and middle-
period plays 31
11. Matrix display for Anna Christie of subscene segmentation
with personae configuration times Aristotelian divisions 44
12. Segment work sheet, Anna Christie I.vi 45
13. Matrix display of motifs at the intersection of semiotic systems and personae occurrences (turns), Anna Christie I.iv 60
14. Complex matrix display of occurrences of semiotic systems
times personae, communicative functions, and motifs,
Anna Christie I.vi 62
x LIST OF FIGURES
15. Complex matrix display of occurrences of personae times
communicative functions, awareness at the la- and lb- and
2-levels, and motifs, Anna Christie I.vi 63
16. Summary matrix display of personae times motifs for all of
Long Day's Journey into Night 76
17. Composite matrix for the six microcorpus plays of per­
sonae configuration times Aristotelian divisions times
semiotic systems 80
18. Complex matrix display for all of Anna Christie of aristotelian divisions times motifs and communicative functions at
the one-level 86
19. Matrix display for each play of the microcorpus of totals
for communicative functions (one-level) and motifs 87
20. Matrices for each Aristotelian division of each play times
most recurrent (fourteen) motifs rank-ordered 90
21. Composite matrix for each Aristotelian division of all plays
combined times most recurrent (fourteen) motifs rank-
ordered 92
22. Complex matrix display of occurrences of personae times
motifs, awareness, and communicative functions at the la-,
lb- and 2- levels for Aristotelian division II of Anna Christie 95
23. Composite matrix for the microcorpus of personae config­
uration times Aristotelian divisions times motifs occur­
rences 96
24a. Composite matrix display of occurrences of personae times
motifs, awareness, and communicative functions at the la-,
lb- and 2-levels for all of Anna Christie 98
24b. Composite matrix display of occurrences of personae times
motifs, awareness, and communicative functions at the la-,
lb- and 2-levels for all of Desire Under the Elms 99
24c. Composite matrix display of occurrences of personae times
motifs, awareness, and communicative functions at the la-,
lb- and 2-levels for all of Strange Interlude 100
LIST OF FIGURES xi
24d. Composite matrix display of occurrences of personae times
motifs, awareness, and communicative functions at the la-,
lb- and 2-levels for all of Mourning Becomes Electra 101
24e. Composite matrix display of occurrences of personae times
motifs, awareness, and communicative functions at the la-,
lb- and 2-levels for all of Long Day's Journey into Night 102
24f. Composite matrix display of occurrences of personae times
motifs, awareness, and communicative functions at the la-,
lb- and 2-levels for all of A Touch of the Poet 103
25. Composite matrix display of occurrences of personae times
motifs, awareness, and communicative functions at the la-,
lb- and 2-levels for all of the microcorpus 104
26. Illustrative matrix display for A Touch of the Poet of sub-
scene segmentation with personae configuration times
Aristotelian divisions 120
27. Illustrative segment work sheet, Anna Christie I.vi 132
28. Matrix display for Desire Under the Elms of subscene seg­
mentation with personae configuration times Aristotelian
divisions 140
29. Matrix display for Long Day's Journey into Night of sub-
scene segmentation with personae configuration times
Aristotelian divisions 142
List of appendices
A. The specification of Aristotelian divisions 113
B. The Specification of Dramatis Personae Configuration 119
C. The Specification of Awareness Level 123
D. The Specification of Oppositional Motifs 125
E. The Segmentation into Subscenes 127
F. The Selection of Subscene Segments for Matrix Analysis 129
G. The Format and Notation of the Work Sheet Matrix 131
H. Reading the Matrices for Simultaneity of Semiotic Systems 137
I. Personae Configuration and the Selection of Segments in
Desire Under the Elms 139
J. Personae Configuration and the Selection of Segments in
Long Day's Journey into Night 141