Филологические науки/1.Методика  преподавания языка и литературы

Смолова Т.В., Познякова Т.М.

Гомельский государственный университет им. Ф. Скорины

PRESENTATIONAL SEQUENCING IN THE LITERARY ANALYSIS (BASED ON SHORT STORIES BY H.S.WALPOLE)

Hugh Seymour Walpole (1884-1941), a prominent English writer, is famous for his thirty-six novels and a great number of short stories. For a long time his short stories were not very popular but in the course of time they regained public attention – it is in them that the author revealed the most attractive aspects of his talent. His characters are true to life, their problems are recognisable. H. S. Walpole’s stories are filled with sympathy, understanding and compassion for his characters, which gives them a special charm.

Two of his numerous stories in the collection “The Silver Thorn” attract the readers’ attention by a common theme expressed in their titles. These stories are “The Etching” and “A Picture”. At first sight both titles suggest the theme of art as the main area of interest. Moreover, this impression is supported by the introductory considerations, exposed by the narrator in ”A Picture”: ”It interested me just now to hear what you said about pictures. To you, obviously, pictures are one of two things, good investment or pegs to hang an argument on. And maybe that’s the best reason, the only reason, for owning a picture, because you like it”, ”I like them and they are a constant unending joy to me, little scraps of beauty scattered up and down my little house”. We come across a similar idea in the story “The Etching”, when the narrator describes the main character Billy Gabriel: “Another of his ambitions ...was one day to have “pictures”. Pictures in the vague, so vague and so impossible that he never breathed this particular ambition to anybody ...”

But very soon the narrator softly turns the course of his contemplation to the actual theme, i.e. the theme of human relations, in particular, the problem of human misunderstanding between couples in the relationship.

The second aspect that unites both stories is the fact that the major characters in each of them are represented by two couples who are revealed in such a bright, vivid and picturesque way that they become not only true-to-life characters, but easily recognizable ones and worthy of special attention. ”The foundation of good fiction is character-creating and nothing else ... Style counts, plot counts...but none of these counts anything like so much as the convincingness of the characters”, wrote A. Bennet in his article “Is the Novel Decaying?” So, these stories can be used as a good example for the application of methods of comparative analysis to the author’s ways of creating character-images. A teacher has an opportunity to make students draw psychological portrayal of the characters and analyse their motives - i.e. to let them understand the ways the author penetrates into the minds of his characters, the ways he describes their subtle motives and psychological changes and, finally, the reasons behind their personal dramatic stories.

Experience reveals the importance of applying the elements of presentational sequencing in the process of analysing the method of character portrayal. As far as presentational sequencing may be traced on different levels (sequencing of literary representational forms, sequencing of viewpoints of the story etc.) it may be reasonable to limit ourselves to applying only the sequence of literary presentation. The characters’ actions can be evaluated in the following order/sequence: a) from an impulse to a thought, b) from the thought to a word, c) from the word to a decision, d) from the decision to an action, e) from the action to an event and then to the whole line of behaviour.

Let’s apply this approach to the presentation of two major characters in comparison: Billy Gabriel and Simon.

1. From an impulse to a thought: Billy Gabriel: “Suddenly his hand stopped. His

heart thumped in his breast.... He went into the shop... paid his five shillings... left the shop. His heart was still beating”. Simon: “And then, in an instant of time, in an instant of heady drunken determination, I bought it myself; I not only bought it, I paid him a cheque for it there and then. I carried it back in a taxi and I was trembling with excitement...”

2. From the thought to a word: Billy: “That’s a beautiful thing. What do you know about prints? Nothing at all!” Simon; “Listen, Vanessa, I love this picture...it means something personal to me...these two Italian women seem alive to me...”

3. From the word to a decision: Billy: “...I will show it to Frances right away and insist that we frame it...and so we’ll make it up...” Simon: “I would take it at once to the galleries and change it to something, anything!”

4. From the decision to an action: Billy: “He didn’t listen to her. He went out....She heard ...the hall door close...The place was quiet as a well” Simon: “Well, I conquered my foolishness, took the picture down...and went off with it to the galleries...I was shamefaced enough...”

5. From the action to an event and then to the whole line of behaviour: Billy: “He never came back. He didn’t want to...He took a charming cottage in the country, made a beautiful collection of etchings, grew fat, bullied his servants in an amiable kind of way and was immensely happy... He gave her a very generous allowance.” Simon: “I knew with a sudden flash of humiliating discovery, that it was not Vanessa’s weakness that the two women in the picture had discovered, but my own...And so I missed the only chance in my life that has been really worthwhile. And yet I love that picture; you can see it hanging there opposite you.”

The students can analyse and compare each step of literary presentational sequencing applied to the thoughts and feelings of all the characters with the double aim: to study the technique and to understand the motives and psychological background of their actions.

References:

1. Arnold I., Diakonova N. Three centuries of English Prose. L.,1967.

2. Bennet A. Is the Novel Decaying? //Woolf V. Mrs. Dalloway and Essays. M.: Raduga Publishers, 1984.

3. Crystal D., Davy D., Investigating English Style. L.: Longman, 1973.

4. James H. The Art of Fiction //American Literary Criticism M., 1981.

5. Borisova L.V .Interpreting Fiction. Minsk, Vysh. Shkola1999.