Give the general description of the texts under comparison,

Speak about the thematic and stylistic features of the three texts, comparing the primary one with each of the two parodies and then, hopefully,

3) arrive at certain conclusions concerning the nature of the popularity of Dan Brown's novel.

As both "The Asti Spumante Code" and "The Va Dinci Cod" are detective novels in which action is developed against a certain historical background (real or imaginative) and as both of them reproduce the stylistic features of the primary text, there is absolutely no need for us to go deeper into the history or theory of parody here -- a question that has been most thoroughly studied in a number of philological papers [2; 3; 7; 20; 21; 22; 23; 24; 25; 37; 38; etc.] -- and to explain the subtle distinction between stylization, periphrasis and parody proper [5; 6]. The authors of both secondary texts do not merely use some features of Dan Brown's style to create an independent artistic text (stylization) or to apply them to the description of reality usually shown with the help of some other linguistic means (periphrasis); the two secondary texts are definitely "about" Dan Brown's novel, they are based on it both stylistically and thematically, hence they may be treated as parodies proper [5; 6] and used within the type of confrontation we have discussed above.

The book, very naturally, is meant for all those interested in matters of style and parody in general, and in Dan Brown's novel and the parodies of it in particular, but apart from this it will hopefully have a more specific application. Students of stylistics are too often provided with manuals giving them ample theoretical information and a relatively meagre practical demonstration of how the theoretical postulates may be used in the analysis of concrete texts. In the present manual we deliberately tried to reduce as far as possible the volume of theory offered and further on to turn entirely to the analysis of protracted literary works. We hope that the present paper will not be completely useless to the students of English who want to master the elements of stylistically and thematically (linguopoetically) oriented research.

Примерная схема стилистического анализа

 

Scheme of comprehensive analysis of a short story

1. The theme, the main idea.

2. Plot structure. Arrangement of the components of plot structure.

3. The role of the setting.

4. Plot structure techniques.

5. The main characters, means of their characterization.

6. Narrative method. Types of narration.

7. The tonal system. The author’s attitude.

8. Expressive means and stylistic devices.

9. The title and its implication. The message.

10. Your personal response to the story.

 

Scheme of the analysis of a chapter

1. The title and its implication.

2. The subject matter of the chapter.

3. The setting and the main events.

4. Characters and their relationships.

5. Means of characterization.

6. Narrative types.

7. Expressive means and stylistic devices.

8. The author’s attitude, tone, mood, atmosphere.

Вопросы для проведения первого рейтингового контроля

1. Functional styles. Belles-lettres style.

2. Functional styles. Essays.

3. Stylistic differentiation of the English vocabulary.

4. Types of narration.

5. Lexical stylistic devices.

6. Syntactical stylistic devices.

7. Lexico-syntactical stylistic devices.

8. Graphico-phonetic expressive means.

9. The message of a literary work.

10. Literary techniques.

11. Means of characterization.

12. Tonal system.

 

Вопросы для проведения второго рейтингового контроля

1. Language, the medium of literature.

2. Denotative and connotative meanings of the word.

3. Word stylistic reference. Words of literary stylistic layer.

4. Word stylistic reference. Words of non-literary stylistic layer.

5. Denotation and connotation in imaginative literature.

6. Connotative function of grammar categories.

7. Connotative function of word stylistic reference.

8. Verbal and supraverbal layers of the literary text.

9. Principles of poetic structure cohesion. Principle of incomplete representation.

10. Principles of poetic structure cohesion. Principle of analogy and contrast.

11. Principles of poetic structure cohesion. Principle of recurrence.

12. Components of poetic structure. Macro-components and microcoponents.

13. Types of tropes.

14. Types of figures of speech.

А) движение + звук: Example: mad careening of the storm(Coleridge).

Б) движение + форма + цвет: Example: angry clouds (Byron).

Salt was the honey of the hair, yet he tasted it with a bitter joy (p.174).

Bitter – caused by or mental pain or resentment.

Здесь эпитет подчеркивает расстроенное состояние Рыбака.

Метафорический эпитет может быть выражен существительным, определяющим следующее за ним существительное с предлогом of:

Example:for on the loom of sorrow a d by the white hands of Pain, has this my robe been woven.

Итак, метафорический эпитет является ярким средством создания образности художественного текста, средством характеризации героев.

Необходимо заметить, что и простые определения, которые выделяют присущий предмету основной признак, часто, будучи вовлечены в орбиту действия эпитетов, сами начинают приобретать качества эпитета. Это связано с тем, что такие прилагательные-определения начинают под влиянием “радиации” эмоциональных значений, сами окрашиваться в определенные чувственные тона.

Синтаксические типы:

Г) В художественной литературе широко распространена эмфатическая атрибутивная конструкция с переподчинением типа: A hell of mess, a devil of sea, a dwarf of a fellow etc…

Example: There is Blood in the heart of the ruby and death in the heart of the pearl.