Open AccessThe Function of Figurative Language in the Dialogue between Dickens and His Reader
Author(s) -
Е А Шевченко
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
studia litterarum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.1
H-Index - 3
eISSN - 2541-8564
pISSN - 2500-4247
DOI - 10.22455/2500-4247-2020-5-4-166-181
Subject(s) - heteroglossia , literal and figurative language , dialogical self , linguistics , trace (psycholinguistics) , function (biology) , indexicality , ideology , space (punctuation) , sociology , philosophy , epistemology , evolutionary biology , politics , political science , law , biology
The article examines the function of figurative language in Dickens’s novels in thelight of its specific dialogism. Dickens’s dialogism mentioned by M. Bakhtin manifestsitself through the so-called double voicing and socio-ideological heteroglossia. It alsocontinues in the form of a dialogue between the author and the reader. The second typeof the dialogue includes the first one. The essay explores the hitherto understudiedinfluence of Dickens’s communicative urge for the continuous contact with his readerin his fiction, including its discursive aspects. My research is an attempt to convergethese two approaches as I trace the interdependence and the process of transitionbetween the dialogue that develops in the frame of the voice orientation and thedialogue between the author and reader that leads Dickens to extensive dialogism. Theanalysis shows that the figurative discourse implements two functions: it intensifiesheteroglossia and at the same time clarifies the author’s intention and also organizesthe space of the author’s and reader’s communication, appealing to the reader toemotionally engage in the process. Figurative and emotional force of Dickens’slanguage is a means to strengthen the dialogical discourse and to multiply its forms.