The Short Story IV: “Seventeen

Syllables”

ENGL 146

 As we discussed on Monday, a “narrative” implies the existence of some kind of communicating agent (the implied author and/or a character-narrator). Who is the communicator in “Seventeen Syllables”? What attitudes or beliefs does he or she betray in telling the story?

  You will have two weeks to do a close reading of a short story. You will want to look for the details we’ve discussed in class, including stuff from our discussions of poetry (metaphor, imagery, connotation etc.)

  You can bring 1 piece of letter-size paper (front and back) of notes.

  Then you’ll write it up in class.

  I will be looking for:   a strong argument supported by evidence from the text that

demonstrates your understanding of the concepts we’ve discussed   a well-written essay (spelling, grammar, structure)

  We talked about narration and different kinds of communicators . . .   Real Author   Implied Author   Narrator

  We also talked about recipients of the narrative . . .   Real Reader   Implied Reader   Narratee

Real author

Implied author

(Narrator)

(Narratee)

Implied reader

Real reader

Real Author

Implied Author (Narrator) (Narratee) Implied

Reader Real

Reader

Inside the world of the narrative.

 “Hills Like White Elephants”   Attitude of the implied author

 Attitude of the implied reader

 Definition:

  “the physical place or ideological situation or practical life-orientation to which narrative events stand in relation” (Chatman)

 May be tied to a particular character or related by a narrator

 Narrator is outside the action

 Perception: wide scene  Attitudes or beliefs of the implied

author

  Range of presence when it comes to narrators   At one end you have an almost completely invisible

narrator.

  At the other hand, you have a narrator who uses “I” and is explicit in his or her interpretations.

  [Narratives that claim to be a collection of previously written material (letters, diaries)]

  Recorded Speech/Verbalized Thoughts of Characters   Dramatic Monologue by a

Character to another, silent, character

  Soliloquy (speaking to oneself)   Dialogue

  Recorded Thoughts   Direct tagged thought

  “unspoken speech”   Thoughts belong to the character, not the

narrator.   “Can this be Mr Darcy!” thought she.

  Direct free thought   No quotation marks or tags.   Extended form: interior monologue

  Interior Monologue   If the character refers to himself or herself, it’s in first

person.

  Same tense as the narrative. (If the narrative is in the present, so is the interior monologue.)

  Language is consistent with that of the character.

  No presumption of an audience.

  Overall, what makes something an interior monologue is that there can be no statement by a narrator that the character is thinking or perceiving these things.

  Stream of Consciousness   “narrative method by which the author

attempts to give a direct quotation of the mind” (Chatman)

  Interior monologue + record of sensations   Randomness; lack of punctuation;

free association rather than an orderly progression of thoughts

  Indirect expression of a characters speech or thoughts.

  Direct tagged:   “I have to go,” he said.

  Direct Free:   I have to go.

  Indirect Tagged:   John said that he had to go.

  Indirect Free:   John had to go.

  Indirect = a bit more intervention; the narrator is reporting rather than quoting.

  Explicit description of a setting; attitude

  Formal introduction: “Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition . . .”

  Summaries: only an omniscient narrator can summarize something effectively; can’t be done from within by an ordinary character.

  Reporting things that cannot be known by the rest of the characters.

  Commentary:   Overt narrators will often explain, interpret, and

summarize elements in the story.

  Ethos/believability   Is the narrator’s version of events consistent with the

overall world created by the implied author?

  Unreliable narrator: narrator’s account is at odds with what the implied reader believes to be the real story.

  There’s a discrepancy between what the narrator says happened and how the implied reader is encouraged by the implied author to reconstruct the story.

  1921 – 2011

  Japanese-American

  Spent three years in an internment camp during WWII.

  Themes:

  Japanese immigrants and their American-born children

  Japanese culture

  Role of women