“he thought” therefore he internally spoke? A study of reporting clauses in reported thought in Hemingway’s "For Whom the Bell Tolls" - Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3 Accéder directement au contenu
Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2022

“he thought” therefore he internally spoke? A study of reporting clauses in reported thought in Hemingway’s "For Whom the Bell Tolls"

Résumé

This paper investigates the verbs used in the reporting clauses accompanying instances of direct quotation of the mind in E. Hemingway’s "For Whom the Bell Tolls". In his novel, Hemingway makes an extensive use of the direct speech technique to represent dialogues between characters but also to represent the characters’ thoughts, and more precisely the main character’s. The short reporting clauses, which might easily be overlooked, are actually significant. By the selection of a specific verb – carrying a special meaning and thus indirectly adding sense to the quote – the author makes a choice that is revealing of a certain conception of interior monologue. Reporting clauses are used to quote words, and also to link those words to an utterer but when it comes to “reporting” something that was not externally said, things get more complicated, and representation requires making use of all the elements available to the writer, including verbs in reporting clauses. Those verbs may convey the idea of an actual (if internal and fictional) utterance, comparable to an exteriorized utterance, even going as far as mimicking dialogicity, or tone down the impression that the character actually speaks to themselves. Therefore, I explore how Hemingway uses the rather limited number of verbs compatible with direct thought – one cognitive verb and a few communication verbs – in order to convey a particular vision of what talking to oneself is, and the different forms this representation can take, indirectly influencing how the reader perceives the words they are reading. I thus analyse what the selected verbs (and their syntax) tell us about the type of thought represented, and how they may reinforce or contradict the linguistic technique they belong to. I also explore the diegetic implications of such choices.
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Dates et versions

hal-04385408 , version 1 (10-01-2024)

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  • HAL Id : hal-04385408 , version 1

Citer

Florence Floquet. “he thought” therefore he internally spoke? A study of reporting clauses in reported thought in Hemingway’s "For Whom the Bell Tolls". PALA Conference 2022: Style and sense(s), Jul 2022, Aix-en-Provence, France. ⟨hal-04385408⟩
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