The representation of temporality in extended text : a study of Pride and prejudice

Date
1984
Authors
Su, Lily I-Wen
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Abstract
The primary goal of this study is to investigate the structural representation of temporality in Pride and Prejudice. We posit a complex of hierarchical structures which interact with non-temporal units to create for readers the feeling of living through a special kind of experience, one created through the artistic use of language. Chapter One of the present work, which describes the general framework and some crucial notions related to the study, includes a survey of works relevant to the study of temporality. In Chapter Two, we posit five types of temporal units, identifying them by means of their linguistic features. These different types of units differ not only in form, but also in their temporal marking functions. In Chapter Three we argue that these temporal units not only have distinctive internal features but also form larger temporal units which we refer to as temporal episodes. Temporal episodes are, we conclude, the highest hierarchically organized units representing temporality. Much of the analysis centers on the arrangement of temporal episodes. The concept of temporal episode seems especially important for studying Jane Austen's techniques in creating dramatic irony -- the notion of scene vs. summary related to staging effect. In Chapter Four, we consider another principle of temporal ordering, i.e. t9at of the order of consciousness. When narrative material such as generalizations and value-judgments in the text is not suitable for ~ temporal order of objective chronology, additional temporal modes sl1ch as the order of consciousness may be chosen. Following Dry's 1975 claim that the identification of the fictional consciousness, i.e. the attribution of point of view, can be studied by means of its syntactic reflexes, we commit ourselves in this chapter to the discussion of point of view, hoping to answer questions concerning specific utterances in the mimetic text -- questions such as whose words, whose thoughts, and whose perception. We show that the representation of point of view for narrative, except for psychological time units, can be expressed in terms of the temporal units posited in Chapter Two. Three types of subunits under psychological time narrative units are thus identified in order to provide an accurate account of the temporal interpretation associated with psychological time narrative units which reflect internal perspective. In Chapter Five, we discuss, along with a brief summary of our findings of the study presented here, the different emphases in the first half and the second half of the novel. Whereas the first half of the novel mainly makes use of the dramatic method of dialogue, i.e. external revelation by means of narrative units referred to as real time units, the second half concentrates more on the internalized conflict, i.e. we find a much denser use of narrative units referred to as psychological time units. The different methods adopted thus affect the organizational and distributional patterns of their temporal episodes. Finally we consider the relationship of these differences in form to different functions of speech and narration in the novel, bearing in mind the conclusions of relevant critical studies.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1984.
Bibliography: leaves 182-190.
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xii, 190 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm
Keywords
Austen, Jane, Time in literature
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Theses for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (University of Hawaii at Manoa). Linguistics; no. 1849
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