Unit 4.

Style and meaning

Although for some the topic is still controversial, one of the great achievements of the post-structuralist
theoretical explosion of the 1980s was to emphasize the importance of form and style in order to
determine what the text meant. Style had often be considered as mere ornamentation, form was
considered as what could be swept aside, even in the case of translation: translators could get away
with ignoring form because it was impossible to convey. True, it was. Or not. But the fact that form
contributes to meaning means that, even if it cannot be translated it needs to be taken into account in
order to determine what the texts are about.

The most important part of this unit is to take another look at formal aspects of text and to explain
why they are important. If translating form is too complex for general solutions, clearly understanding
form and style is a key element in understanding what texts are about.

Keywords: style, styles, form, meaning, degree zero

Texts: style in Hemingway and Proust (extracts)

How style works
What is style and how is it relevant for translators? Style consists of a series of choices (verbal, rhythmic,
rhetorical) in which the authors original intentions express themselves textually. Style is related to
form, so one way to approach style is in terms of formal strategies. One implication of this is that it
affects the expressive aspects of language. It also affects its surface. When we reviewed linguistic
theories in Unit 2 we saw how it was questionable that languages all have the same potential for
meaning. But what is definitely true is that each language is radically different in terms of expression
and in terms of surface. Style challenges a version of translation that insists on transferring meanings
into differently shaped containers.

Looking at style we are reminded that it is simplistic to separate too sharply form from meaning.

Style is an important concept for translators because it is one of the ways the texts acquire certain
individuality beyond transparent meaning. Style, in other words, means: it is not simply
something external to the text used for ornamentation. Also, if we take into account the concept
of textual grid introduced in the previous unit, styles are not easily transferable from one
culture into another. Different cultures have different style grids or repertoires.

In the rest of this unit you shall be introduced to the concept of style and will be shown a range of
specific styles. You will also learn to be sensitive to style and to find ways to make use of style in your
work.
The personal and the conventional in style.

Let's consider three topics:

Style and Convention

Style and the Individual

Style Change

Style and convention

Style can be more or less conventional (i.e. pre-determined by a set of conventions) or more or less
personal (i.e. determined by authors personal choices). But in both cases one needs to be aware of a
tension between individual choices and the conventional repertoires of each language. Excessively
conventional style is generic and imprecise, but it will communicate clearly, excessively personal style,
on the other hand, can be solipsistic.
Some genres (types of text) and some periods tend to insist on stylistic devices as conventions.
According to this proposal, styles are, so to speak, pre-packaged: when artists approach a topic or
undertake a piece of work, they are directed towards certain tropes, certain forms, certain choices.
Unless artists use these tropes or forms, their art wont be considered successful. Conventions
contribute to smooth communication, but they can easily turn stale if repeated too often.
Examples of Convention and Style
a) In the 14th Century, Petrarch introduced a new approach to poetic expression, with a very particular
use of the sonnet form, which quickly became very popular. The kinds of words and sentence
constructions used in Petrarchean poetry were highly conventional. If one wanted to succeed as a poet,
Petrarchean poetry was not the only possible choice, but it was an important choice in 14th Century
Europe, and soon it became a repertoire of stylistic conventions (still recognizable, if less central,
nowadays) that artists had to use.
b) For decades, Valencian Fallas (satirical cardboard sculptures set up to celebrate the regions patron
saint, which are subsequently burned) followed very strict representational patterns: faces, costumes,
characters, had to be represented in certain ways, following traditions handed down from fathers to
sons; style of representation was heavily codified and it was hard to challenge. New approaches to
imagery and construction eventually happened, but they had to overcome a lot of pressures to conform
to tradition.
c) There was a characteristic way of speaking, associated to Humphrey Bogart, that was widely used in
film noir. Noir speech became a convention scriptwriters had to master in order to make their
characters speak. Other classical films in which this style was used include The Big Sleep, Lady of the
Lake or Out of the Past. As in the case of Petrarchean poetry, noir speech is still recognized as a
conventional style in movie speech used, for instance, by the Coen Brothers in The Man Who Wasnt
There.

Style and the individual

At the same time, certain artists work on individual verbal landscapes surrounding them in order to
create very personal styles. They choose words precisely to bring some character to their writing which
challenges standard uses of language in one way or another.
Examples of Individual Styles
a) We have become familiar with Almodvar speech. There is a subtle use of language, filled with
popular turns, some vulgarisms and a certain unconscious wit which one associates with working
classes from the country. Only some characters in Almodvar films speak with this style (the best
examples are probably Candela in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, or Agrado in All About
My Mother), still, it is this style has become referenced and imitated in the work of other directors (see
for instance Miguel Albaladejos El cielo abierto, with Almodvar regular Mariola Fuentes).
b) In literature, authors like Hemingway or Proust have recognizable, almost stereotypical styles. The
former tends to prefer austerity in the expressin, concise sentences and precise but not necessarily
elegant adjectives for description; the former is ornate, excessive, breathless. However it is important
to remember that through style they both express a view of language and a view of society. Style can be
ornate, but it is not simply ornamentation.
Styles change
Notice that in all of these examples, style is always both personal and conventional, although it is true
that sometimes personal choices will be stronger and in other cases mastering a convention is all that
matters. By making certain stylistic choices, authors intend to communicate a worldview, but
they can only do this effectively if the meaning of each style is recognized by competent readers.
Of course this implies that readers are somehow familiar with styles and conventions. Two points to
remember. First, not all audiences will be sensitive to or familiar with a wide range of styles, so
the larger you want your audience to be, the more reduced your stylistic possibilities will be.
Secondly, styles change in time and what was easily recognizable by broad audiences one decade ago
may not be so easily recognizable nowadays. One example here is the slacker style typical of certain
films of the 90s like Kevin Smiths film Clerks; it was only at that point that slacker speech became
standardized and widely recognizable, it would not have been so identifiable earlier.
Next section suggests areas where style is most prominently visible and can be analyzed. Use these
areas in order to discuss the verbal or written style of the films you are working on.
Hemingway and Proust as instances of style
Degree Zero?
Is there a degree zero of style? Is there a kind of style that is in itself transparent, that is in fact no style
at all? This question is very similar to what we have discussed in Unit 2 about the possibility of a
standard, transparent translation. Again, the answer is that we can aspire to invisible style, we can
aspire to work on a text that seemingly writes itself.
Writing Degree Zero is actually the title of Roland Barthes first full length book, first published in
1953. As a man obsessed with style and its meaning, Barthes sets out to answer claims that realist
authors represent some kind of degree zero style of writing. Against the intensity of Socialist Realism,
Barthes proposes the writing of Albert Camus, Raymond Queneau or the novels of Jean Paul Sartre as
representative of an ideal of transparency. However, it becomes clear that for Barthes, even in the case

of these writers, transparency is as sophisticated, needs as much hard work, as any other kind of style.
Writing degree zero is, consequently, as much a style as Proustian long sentences.
Literary styles
In English, the style of Ernest Hemingway has also often been mentioned as representing best this
aspiration in the canon. His sentences are short, unadorned, words always have one meaning and this
meaning is essentially clear, with no ambiguity or irony.
However, as with translation, such aspiration is suspect if we think that it represent an absolute
negation of style. No matter what we do to develop an invisible style we are still doing something.
Hemingway makes choices in trying hard to write nakedly and essentially.
A second proposal for natural style proposed encourages authors to write as you speak. This was
evidence of a mistrust for written language as intellectualized and elaborated, hiding its meaning rather
than clarifying it. Again, this is problematic: recreating nature takes work and takes choices.
No matter how much people can recognize Almodvars characters speech as real there is an element
of construction. Very few people speak, in fact, like that. And even when they do, it might be a style
which is constructed, a style of which some (certainly Almodvar) are aware.

A writer always makes choices. Such choices will always be subjective. They can lead him or her to a
style reminding readers of Hemingway or to a complicated style which could be defined as Proustian.
What is important in both cases is that style characterizes voice and characterizes writing. But there is
no escaping making stylistic choices. Not making them is often just a sign of ignorance of the possibilities
and of the wealth of potentialities in language for expression.
What applies to writers, applies equally to translators. Sometimes (see below) styles will be personal.
Sometimes they will be conventional. But translators need awareness of style.
Example
This is the beginning of Hemingways masterful short story The Killers:
The door of Henrys lunchroom opened and two men came in. They sat
down at the counter.
Whats yours? George asked them.
I dont know, one of the men said. What do you want to eat, Al?
I dont know, said Al. I dont know what I want to eat.
Outside it was getting dark. The streetlight came on outside the window.
The two men at the counter read the menu. From the other end of the
counter Nick Adams watched them. He had been talking to George when
they came in.
Notice the famous staccato rhythm, the simplicity of the sentences to create tension, the plain register
in vocabulary.

Now, in sharp contrast, look at this sentence from Prousts Remembrance of Things Past (from Swanns
Way, in the translation of C.K.M. Scott-Moncrieff):
And just as, before kissing Odette for the first time, he had sought to imprint upon his memory the face
that for so long had been familiar, before it was altered by the additional memory of their kiss, so he
could have wished- in thought at least, to have been in a position to bid farewell, while she still existed,
to that Odette who had cause him so to suffer, an whom now he would never see again.
Forum Exercise 1
Re-write the last paragraph by Proust in the kind of style you would associate to Hemingway.
Constructing style
The following section is about the pieces which make up specific styles. Conversely, it is about the areas
you should take into account when you read a text and aim to reproduce its style in translation.
In the case of audiovisual translators, verbal styles will be of paramount importance to construct
character speech. In terms of your final essay, this section provides you with a series of areas to focus
on when discussing stylistic difficulties of the film you are working on.
Vocabulary
Word choice is important in literature to convey meaning. As generally with style, word choice can be
highly individual or can be part of set styles. Some writers will prefer words with Latin roots (which in
English tends to denotate high cultural capital), some writers will prefer short words, or slang, or will
come back to certain pet words, or will use certain regional terms (the Scottish brother, the cockney
guv, the working class mate). Words can define social class, professional field, situation, intimacy,
etc.
Forum Exercise 2
Propose a sentence with a fixed meaning. Change some words in the sentence for quasi-synonims in
different registers or different nuances. Do this twice. Explain briefly how the meaning of the sentence
has changed from your choices.
In terms of film dialogue, certain types of characters use certain kinds of words. Words typify and
individualize. Translators should be sensitive to how word choice is saying something about certain
characters, what kind of words can characters master, what kind of themes push a character into a state
of restricted vocabulary. Some characters can be very articulate when they discuss science, with a range
of vocabulary that may be challenging, but not so much when they talk about emotions. Daniel Faraday
in Lost is one such character.
Forum Exercise 3
Pick up a multi-protagonist TV series and try to find distinctions between the lexical choices of two or
three characters. Discuss them in terms of register (a character would never use certain words), in
terms of recurring words (what does it mean that certain characters make use of certain words). Lost
is, of course, a good example. So are The West Wing, Mad Men, The Wire, Modern Family, Friends or The
Sopranos, as they are particularly attuned to vocabulary.
Syntax

Syntax is another tool to construct distinctive style. Some writers will prefer shorter sentences
developing a sort of staccato style, whereas for others subordination is crucial to express ideas (we saw
examples of this above when contrasting Hemingway and Proust). Syntax is used for characterization,
sometimes through length of sentence, sometimes simply to create rhythms.
We judge people by their syntax: we get a very different perception of someone who makes long
sentences than of someone who makes short sentences. Our attitude is bound to change on these
grounds. Long subordinate sentences can link ideas, but can be hard to follow. Also, short sentences can
reveal sharp or nervous personalities. Syntax (and rhythm) are two ways to attempt characterization.
Lets think about Woody Allens rhythms or Losts Hugo (Jorge Garca) with his interrupted sentences
and languorous rhythms. Both contribute to the sense of who they are as fiction character.
Example: Opening paragraph of Woody Allens "Annie Hall"
There's an old joke. Uh, two elderly women are at a Catskills mountain resort, and one of 'em says: "Boy,
the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know, and such ... small portions."
Well, that's essentially how I feel about life. Full of loneliness and misery and suffering and unhappiness,
and it's all over much too quickly. The-the other important joke for me is one that's, uh, usually
attributed to Groucho Marx, but I think it appears originally in Freud's wit and its relation to the
unconscious. And it goes like this-I'm paraphrasing: Uh ... "I would never wanna belong to any club that
would have someone like me for a member." That's the key joke of my adult life in terms of my
relationships with women. Tsch, you know, lately the strangest things have been going through my
mind, 'cause I turned forty, tsch, and I guess I'm going through a life crisis or something, I don't know.
I, uh ... and I'm not worried about aging. I'm not one o' those characters, you know. Although I'm balding
slightly on top, that's about the worst you can say about me. I, uh, I think I'm gonna get better as I get
older, you know? I think I'm gonna be the balding virile type, you know, as opposed to say the, uh,
distinguished gray, for instance, you know? 'Less I'm neither o' those two. Unless I'm one o' those guys
with saliva dribbling out of his mouth who wanders into a cafeteria with a shopping bag screaming
about
socialism.
(Sighing)
Annie and I broke up and I-I still can't get my mind around that. You know, I-I keep sifting the pieces of
the relationship through my mind and-and examining my life and tryin' to figure out where did the
screw-up come, you know, and a year ago we were... tsch, in love. You know, and-and-and ... And it's
funny, I'm not-I'm not a morose type. I'm not a depressive character. I-I-I, uh,
(Laughing)
you know, I was a reasonably happy kid, I guess.
Forum Exercise 4
Repeat the previous forum activity now focusing on syntax instead of vocabulary.
Irony
Perception of irony is of course important for the translator, but it is one of the qualities which will often
be in the perception of the reader or the audience. Although stylistically irony has certain traits,
ambivalence is essential to it. An ironic sentence is literally saying something, but it is conveying

(through intonation, syntax, vocabulary, etc) quite a different meaning which undercuts the more literal
one.
Example: Casablanca
The following is an extract from Casablanca: after Rick is introduced as the protagonist he has a meeting
with shady, corrupt Ugarte. Notice how most of the responses from Rick are ironic and irony is one way
to characterize him:
Rick meets Ugarte on his way back to his table.
UGARTE
- Huh. You know, Rick, watching you just now with the Deutsches Bank, one would think you'd been
doing this all your life.
RICK
(stiffening)
- Well, what makes you think I haven't?
UGARTE
(vaguely)
- Oh, nothing. But when you first came to Casablanca, I thought -RICK
(coldly)
- You thought what?
UGARTE
- What right do I have to think?
Ugarte pulls out a chair at Rick's table.
UGARTE
- May I? Too bad about those two German couriers, wasn't it?
RICK
(indifferently)
- They got a lucky break. Yesterday they were just two German clerks. Today they're the 'Honored
Dead'.
UGARTE
Y- ou are a very cynical person, Rick, if you'll forgive me for saying so.
Ugarte sits down.
RICK
(shortly)
I forgive you.
A waiter comes up to the table with a tray of drinks. He places one before Ugarte.
UGARTE
- Thank you. (to Rick) Will you have a drink with me please?

RICK
No.
UGARTE
- I forgot. You never drink with (to waiter) I'll have another, please (to Rick, sadly) You despise me,
don't you?
RICK
(indifferently)
- If I gave you any thought, I probably would.
UGARTE
- But why? Oh, you object to the kind of business I do, huh? But think of all those poor refugees who
must rot in this place if I didn't help them. That's not so bad. Through ways of my own I provide them
with exit visas.
RICK
- For a price, Ugarte, for a price.
UGARTE
- But think of all the poor devils who cannot meet Renault's price. I get it for them for half. Is that so
parasitic?
RICK
- I don't mind a parasite. I object to a cut-rate one.
Forum Exrcise 5
Choose one of Ricks responses and explain briefly why it could be regarded as ironic.
Cultural references
Although not necessarily style-related, clearly there are styles which are filled with something we might
call Cultural References (studied more closely in Unit 9). These require certain kinds of audiences.
Again, Hugo in Lost keeps on comparing certain events in the plot to characters and situations of the
first Star Wars trilogy (one of the most referenced films for the younger generation, asCasablanca was
for the previous one). In order to know what he thinks, audiences need to be aware of the meaning of
those references. They also help characterize Hugo as someone who likes certain kind of films not
dissimilar to a key section of Losts target audience.
The rustle of language
An interesting quality of style in verbal dialogue, often dismissed by professional translators for
commercial reasons.
Voices mean. And not just for what they say or for the way they are used, but for their very sound,
which carries cultural connotations and nuances. Voices are highly individual, can be expressive and
often have subtleties of meaning that cannot be produced with the repertoires of dubbing studios.
Studios may have a pretty comprehensive repertoire of types, but there is always something very
personal that can escape this typification. If audiences respond to this personality consistently, the
limitation can be a problem. There is an added difficulty: audiences of dubbed films have become used
to this standard typified repertoire and therefore may feel uncomfortable with voices which are too
personal.

Think about the contribution of certain sound qualities to star personas. The husky tones of Debra
Winger, Al Pacinos rasp, Nicole Kidmans squeak, Marilyn Monroes breathy utterances, Julie Andrews
aristocratic, controlled intonation, George Clooneys steeliness, Dustin Hoffmans mumble.
Forum Exercise 6
Propose favourite actors who are characterized, in your opinion, in terms of voices. Try to describe,
using precise adjectives, how those voices contribute specifically to their star personas.
Styles and types of texts
Style can be linked to types of text. Certain texts require clarity. Certain texts require ambivalence. Or
realism. Or stereotyping. We looked at some types of text in our previous unit (journalism, poetry).
Each kind of verbal style works contextually. A character using elevated, complex style wont be so
noticeable or identifiable if all characters talk in a similar way.
Many of you may know the TV series The West Wing, created by Aaron Sorkin. Because most characters
in that series were so proficiently articulated, their complex styles and rhythms were probably less
relevant than similar rhythms or styles being used in other context. Lets think about a West
Wing character turning up in The Wire. Obviously the style would be more noticeable.
One interesting concept here is textual grid, as proposed by Andre Lefevere to explain the specificity
of styles and the problems it creates for translators. Lefevere remarks that each culture at each point of
time has a specific repertoire of texts, which are more or less central to the culture. In translating
between cultures it will be useful if both cultures have similar textual grids or if, at least, text type from
the source culture has an equivalent in the target culture.
Example: Petrarchean poetry
To come back to a previous example: certainly in the Fifteenth Century Petrarchean poetry was a type
of text/style common to all Western European cultures, and therefore it was easily assimilated
interculturally and easy to find equivalents. But the textual grid for other cultures, say some Central
African or Southern Asiatic cultures at the time may not have a clear equivalent to the motives or the
feelings expressed in Petrarchean poetry.
Intertextuality
This is a concept central to literary theory from the 1980s. Each text can contain explicit or implicit
references to other texts. For post structuralist theoreticians intertextuality was not just something that
happened occasionally, but the basis of literary work: one text is somehow always referring to others,
whether quoting them or reproducing styles or motives.
Again a key concept and again translators need to be aware of it and its centrality, but solutions to the
issues generated by intertextuality in comedy need to be creative rather than literal.
Example of Intertextuality
At one point in Oscar Wildes Lady Windermeres Fan, cynical Lord Darlington defends himself from
rumours of debauchery claiming that he is More sinned against than sinning. This is an intertextual
reference to Shakespeares King Lear. The function is not only for Darlington to reassure his listener

that he is in fact a better person than his reputation suggests, but it is also for Darlington (and Wilde)
to use Shakespeare in order to give a cultivated, witty dimension to his statement. Whereas the first
function can be conveyed easily, the second cant unless we make it clear that it is a quote from
Shakespeare. In English it should not be necessary to make this explicit. In Spanish it would as no
standard translation exists which one can assume to be as well known.
"Exercises in Style", by Raymond Quenau, translated by Barbara Wright
The following section is made up of extract of the English translation of Raymond Quenaus
experimental Exercises in Style. The book (widely available on the web, both in the original French and
in translation) is a good showcase of styles. Out of a very slight anecdote regarding a discussion on a
bus, Quenau fashions 124 ways to tell it. Some are more successful than others, some are imaginative
and personal, others are highly conventional.
This section is meant to help you use the above in order to practice your ability to describe different
styles. To avoid the trap of spontaneous self expression, describe each style using three short sentences,
following with two sentences on the styles function within the work to which it belongs.
You can also choose to reply to the questions. The questions are intended for discussion in the forum
and all questions should be answered in one sentence, if necessary complemented with one example.
Narrative
One day at about midday in the Parc Monceau district, on the back platform of a more or less full S bus
(now No. 84), I observed a person with a very long neck who was wearing a felt hat which had a plaited
cord round it instead of a ribbon. This individual suddenly addressed the man standing next to him,
accusing him of purposely treading on his toes every time any passengers got on or got off. However he
quickly abandoned the dispute and threw himself on to a seat which had become vacant. Two hours
later I saw him in front of the gare Saint-Lazare engaged in earnest conversation with a friend who was
advising him to reduce the space between the lapels of his overcoat by getting a competent tailor to
raise the top button.
Philosophic
Great cities alone can provide phenomenological spirituality with the essentialities of temporal and
improbabilistic coincidences. The philosopher who occasionally ascends into the futile and utilitarian
inexistentiality of an S bus can perceive therein with the lucidity of his pineal eye the transitory and
faded appearance of a profane consciousness afflicted by the long neck of vanity and the hatly plait of
ignorance. This matter, void of true entelechy, occasionally plunges into the categorical imperative of
its recriminatory life force against the neo-Berkleyan unreality of acorporeal mechanism unburdened
by conscience. This moral attitude then carries the more uncounscious of the two towards a void
spatiality where it disintegrates into its primary and crooked elements. Philosophical research is then
pursued normally by the fortituous but anagogic encounter of the same being accompanied by its
inessential and sartorial replica, which is noumenally advising it to transpose on the level of the
understanding the concept of overcoat button situated sociologically too low.
Official Letter

I beg to advise you of the following facts of which I happened to be the equally impartial and horrified
witness. Today, at roughly twelve noon, I was present on the platform of a bus which was proceeding
up the rue de Courcelles in the direction of the Place Champerret. The aforementioned bus was fully
laden--more than fully laden, I might even venture to say, since the conductor had accepted an overload
of several candidates, without valid reason and acutated by an exaggerated kindness of heart which
caused him to exceed the regulations and which, consequently, bordered on indulgence. At each
stopping place the perambulations of the outgoing and incoming passengers did not fail to provoke a
certain disturbance which incited one of these passengers to protest, though not without timidity. I
should mention that he went and sat down as and when this eventuality became possible. I will append
to this short account this addendum: I had occasion to observe this passenger some time subsequently
in the company of an individual whom I was unable to identify. The conversation which they were
exchanging with some animation seemed to have a bearing on questions of an aesthetic nature. In view
of these circumstances, I would request you to be so kind, Sir, as to intimate to me the inference which
I should draw from these facts and the attitude which you would then deem appropriate that I adopt in
re the conduct of my subsequent mode of life. Anticipating the favour of your reply, believe me to be,
Sir, your very obedient servant at least.
Visual
The general effect is green with a white top, oblong, with windows. 'Tisn't as easy as all that to do
windows. The platform isn't any colour, it's half grey half brown if itmust be something. The most
important thing is it's full of curves, lots of esses as you might say. but the way it is at midday, rush hour,
it's an extraordinary mess. To get somewhere near it you'd have to extract from the magma a light ochre
rectangle, put alight ochre oval on top, and then on top of that again, stick a darkish ochre hat which
you'd encircle with a plait of burnt Siena, all mixed-up, at that. Then you'd shove in a patch the colour
of duck's muck to represent fury, a red triangle to represent anger, and just a pissworth of green to
portray suppressed bile and squittery funk. After that you'd draw one of those sweet darling little navy
blue overcoats and, near the top of it, just below the opening, you'd put a darling little button drawn
with great precision and loving care.
Reactionary
Naturally the bus was pretty well full and the conductor was surly. You will find thecause of these things
in the 8-hour day and the nationalisation schemes. And then the French lack organisation and a sense
of their civic duties otherwise it wouldn't be necessary to distribute numbered tickets to keep some
semblance of order among the people waiting to get on the bus--order is the word all right! That day
there were atleast ten of us waiting in the blazing sun, and when the bus did arrive there was only room
for two, and I was the sixth. Luckily I said "On Government business" andshowed a card with my photo
and a tricolour band across it--that always impresses conductors--and I got on. Naturally I have nothing
to do with the unspeakable republican government but all the same I wasn't going to miss an important
businessluncheon for a vulgar question of numbers. On the platform we were packed together like
sardines. Such disgusting promiscuity always causes me acute suffering. The only possible
compensation is the occasional charming contact with the quivering hindquarters of a dainty little
midinette. Ah youth, youth! But one shouldn't let oneself get excited. That time I was surrounded
entirely by men, one of whom was a sort of teddy boy whose neck was of inordinate length and who
was wearing a felt hat with a kind of plait round it instead of a ribbon. They to send all creatures of that
sort off to labour camps. To repair the war damage. That caused by the anglo-saxons, especially. In my
day we were young Royalists, not Rock 'n Rollers. At any rate this young object suddenly makes so bold

as to start abusing an ex-service man, a real one, from the 1914 war. And he doesn't even answer back!
When you see such things you realize that the Treaty of Versailles was madness. As for the lout, he threw
himself on to a vacant seat instead of leaving it to the mother of a family. What times we live in! Anyway,
I saw the pretentious young puppy again, two hours later, in front of the Cour de Rome. He was in the
company of another jackanapes of the same kidney, who was giving him some advice about his get-up.
The two of them were wandering aimlessly up and down, instead of going off to break the windows at
the communist headquarters and burn a few books. Poor France!
Forum Exercise 11
Give at least three instances from different of the areas of style outlined in section two in order to
illustrate how reactionarism has been created in this paragraph.

Feminine
Lot of clots! Today round about midday (goodness it was hot, just as well I'd put odorono under my
arms otherwise my little cretonne summer dress that my little dressmaker who makes things specially
cheaply for me made for me would have had it) near the Parc Monceau (it's nicer than the Luxembourg
where I send my son, theidea of getting alopecia at his age) the bus came, it was full, but I made eyes at
theconductor and got in. Naturally all the idiots who'd got numbered tickets made a fuss, but the bus
had got going. With me in it. It couldn't have been fuller. I was terribly squashed, and not one of the men
who had a seat inside dreamed of offering it me. Ill-mannered lot! There was a man beside me who was
quite smart (it's the latest thing, a plait round a felt hat instead of a ribbon, I'm sure Adam must have
written up this new fashion), unfortunately his neck was too long for my liking. Some of my friends
claim that if one part of a man's body is bigger than the average (for instance a nose that's too big) it's
a sign of marked capacities in another direction. But I don't believe a word of it. In any case, this
gentlemanly creature seemed to have the permanent fidgits and I was wondering what he was waiting
for and when he was going to say something to me or extend an exploratory hand. He must be shy, I was
thinking. I wasn't so wrong at that. Because all of a sudden he started to pick on another man who looked
horrible anyway and who was purposely treading on his toes. If I'd been that young man I'd have
punched him on the nose but instead he quickly went and sat down the moment he saw a vacant seat
and what's more it didn't occur to him for a single moment to offer it to me. The things that happen in
the country of Gallantry! A bit later, as I was passing the gare Saint-Lazare (this time I had a seat) I
caught sight of him arguing with a friend (quite a nice-looking boy I must say) about the cut of his coat
(extraordinary idea to wear an overcoat on such a hot day but it does make you look correctly dressed
of course). I looked at him but the idiot didn't even recognise me.
Forum Exercise 12
Explore this paragraph and illustrate how a certain idea of gender is being conveyed using the section
"Constructing Style" on tools of style.
Opera
ACT I.
The Dandy, His Neighbour, The Conductor, Chorus of Passengers
I. Opening Chorus of Passengers. "All Hail to Phoebus," etc.

CHORUS OF PASSENGERS: All hail to Phoebus meridian!

Long live the S quotidian! But see! that nullfidian
With hat of strange device!
His neck! how long and skinny!
His voice! how like a whinny!
As to a nearby Johnny
He speaks with prejudice
2.The Dandy. "Oh hear me, Gods!" Recit.
DANDY: Oh hear me, Gods! Gods, hear me!
Why should he on my toes tread? I start, I quake, I tremble;
I sweat and I see red
Ah! if to do it he continues--But soft! he hears me!
NEIGHBOUR:Oh say, what ails thee?
DANDY:Sir, if thou continuest to read on my transductor,
The Fates will surely constrain me to call,
Ah! the conductor.
NEIGHBOUR:His words deep within my heart are sculptured.
3.The Conductor. "My friends! See, see!" Recit. & Aria
CONDUCTOR: My friends!
See, see! the traffic gathers all around us!
How shall we proceed?
O kindly traffic stream! that increaseth and multiplieth so that total immobility is reached and the
weary passengers will thus listen to my song--to thee I give thanks.
I start, I quake, I tremble, the sweat pours off my brow--but I will sing it.
FEMALE PASSENGER:Oh! I am fainting!
(faints)
CONDUCTOR:
O sweet and friendly traffic stream,
This token of my high esteem Receive!
To thee and thy continued favour
Is due this modest semi-quaver
This breve! How sweet to me thy diesel fumes,
Thy breath the air of night perfumes
And day! For when we cannot move along
Then listen those to my heartfelt song
Who pay!
PASSENGERS:Bravo Bravo Bravo
Bis Encore Bravo.
CONDUCTOR:Thank you, my friends, thank you.
(Repeats his Aria)

PASSENGERS:Bravo Bravo Bravo

NEIGHBOUR (to Dandy) :Sir
PASSENGERS:He has departed!
NEIGHBOUR:Ah!
ACT II.
4.Final Chorus of Passengers. "Ah! once again we see him.
PASSENGERS:Ah! once again we see him
In front of Saint-Lazare
Ah! what a great coincidence,
'Tis he! Oh how bizarre!
But see! that friend who with him talks
Of buttons, goes too far,
Too far, ah! too far,
But see! that friend who with him talks
Of buttons, goes too far,
Of buttons, of buttons,
Of buttons, goes too far.
Forum Exercise 13
Point out three aspects of this text that you would label as operatic
Abusive
After a stinking wait in the vile sun I finally got into a filthy bus where a bunch of bastards were
squashed together. The most bastardly of these bastards was a pustulous creature with a ridiculously
long windpipe who was sporting a grotesque hat with a cord instead of a ribbon. This pretentious puppy
started to create because an old bastard was pounding his plates with senile fury, but he soon climbed
down and made off in the direction of an empty seat that was still damp with the sweat of the buttocks
of its previous occupant. Two hours later, my unlucky day, I came upon the same bastard holding forth
with another bastard in front of that nauseating monument they call the gare Saint-Lazare. They were
yammering about a button. Whether he has his furuncle raised or lowered, I said to myself, he'll still be
just as lousy, the dirty bastard.
Forum Exercise 14
Taking the first text as reference, outline three ways in which subjectivity is constructed.
Precious
It was in the vicinity of a midday July. The sun had engraved itself with a fiery needle on the manybreasted horizon. The asphalt was quivering softly, exhaling that tender, tarry odour that gives the
carcinomous ideas at once puerile and corrosive about the origin of their malady. A bus in green and
white livery, emblazoned with anenigmatic S, came to gather from the neighbourhood of the Parc
Monceau a small and favoured batch of postulant-passengers into the moist confines of sudiferous

dissolution. On the back platform of this masterpiece of the contemporary French automobile industry,
where itinerants were packed together like sardines in a tin, an incorrigible rascal who was slowly
advancing towards the commencement of his fourth decade and who was carrying between a neck of
almost serpentine length and a hat encircled by a cordelet a head as insipid as it was leaden raised his
voice to complain with an unfeigned bitterness which seemed to emanate from a glass of gentrianbitters, or from any other liquid of similar properties, of a phenomenon of the nature of a recurring
blow or shock which in his opinion had its origin in a hic et nunc present co-user of the P.P.T.B. In order
to give utterance to his lament he adopted the acid tones of a venerable vidame who gets his
hindquarters pinched in a public privy and who strange to state does not at all approve of this
compliment and is not at all that way inclined. Later, when the sun had already descended by several
degrees the monumental stairway of its celestial parade and when I was once more causing myself to
be conveyed by another bus of the same line, I perceived the individual described above displacing
himself in a peripatetic fashion in the Cour de Rome in the company of an individual ejusdem farinae
who was giving him, in this locality dedicated to auto-mobilistic circulation, sartorial advice which hung
by the thread of a button.
Forum Exercise 15
Draw three stylistic comparisons between this text and one of the others.