On Analysis of Letters in Vanity Fair from the Perspective of Defamiliarization

FANG+Yi-jun

Abstract：William Makepeace Thackeray is an English novelist whose novels are known for their satirical themes， vivid language and detailed characters. Among these novels， Vanity Fair is regarded as his representative work. Taking lexical， syntactic and textual levels into consideration， the author of this paper makes an attempt to analyze letters in Vanity Fair from the perspective of defamiliarization so as to explain how the novel retains the freshness of readers perceptions and makes people rethink profoundly.

Key words：Vanity Fair； letters； defamiliarization

中图分类号：H315.9 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1672-1578（2015）10-0001-03

1 Introduction

As a famous novel written by W. M. Thackeray， Vanity Fair is regarded as a panoramic portrait of British society in early 19th century. It describes a story in which Becky Sharp，a beautiful and intelligent woman from an impoverished family， attains her end to secure a stable social position and break into upper classes by hook or by crook. Meanwhile， Amelia Sedley who is the comparative figure in the novel is portrayed as the tender and cowardly person born in wealthy family and completely dominated by her fate. With honor or disgrace in different periods of their lives， two protagonists effectively show their？adverse fortune and reveal peoples woe of obsession during the process of seeking profits and rights in the Fair. Among narrative means adopted by the novelist， letter plays an important role to achieve effects of shaping characters， promoting plots and arousing readers interest. In this article， the author intends to analyze the selected letters written by Miss Pinkerton from the perspective of defamiliarization so as to explain how the novel retains the freshness of readers perceptions and creates artistic effects.

2 Concept of Defamiliarization

As the core concept of Russian Formalism coined in early twentieth century， defamiliarization is systematically accounted and greatly associated through the article， that is， Art as Technique by Viktor Sklovsky in 1917. According to Sklovsky，“we can never retain the freshness of our perceptions of objects； the demands of ‘normal existence require that they must become to a great extent ‘automatized.” （Selden，2012：33） As a result， art could be regarded as a special task to give us back the awareness of the habitual things in our daily life， and change our mode of perception from the automatic to the artistic. In Art as Technique， it is mentioned that “the technique of art is to make objects ‘unfamiliar，to make forms difficult， to increase the difficulty and length of perception， because the process of perception is an aesthetic end in itself and must be prolonged. Art is a way of experiencing the artfulness of an object； the object is not important.”（朱刚，2001：9） In this way， as the major means to achieve literariness， defamiliarization contributes to make art valuable in removing the habituation.

3 Defamiliarization Devices Used in letters in Vanity Fair

In Vanity Fair， letters written by different characters are of great importance to highlight their language features， show psychological activities and reveal philosophy of life. In addition， defamiliarization devices used in lexical， syntactic and textual levels of letters play significant roles in the system to achieve the literariness of the novel. As we know， the interconversion between defamiliarization and automatization gradually continues. During this dynamic process， one of them would eventually turn into the other and the included information of each is enriched with more stimuli of consciousness. In Vanity Fair， the deviant uses of language in letters contribute to create unfamiliar and artistic effects to readers. Among those letters， the author of this article selects two of them sent by Miss Pinkerton to make a persuasive analysis from the perspective of defamiliarization.

Case 1： MADAM， —— After her six years residence at the Mall， I have the honour and happiness of presenting Miss Amelia Sedley to her parents， as a young lady not unworthy to occupy a fitting position in their polished and refined circle. Those virtues which characterize the young English gentlewoman， those accomplishments which become her birth and station， will not be found wanting in the amiable Miss Sedley， whose INDUSTRY and OBEDIENCE have endeared her to her instructors， and whose delightful sweetness of temper has charmed her AGED and her YOUTHFUL companions. In music， in dancing， in orthography， in every variety of embroidery and needlework， she will be found to have realized her friends fondest wishes. In geography there is still much to be desired； and a careful and undeviating use of the backboard， for four hours daily during the next three years， is recommended as necessary to the acquirement of that dignified DEPORTMENT AND CARRIAGE， so requisite for every young lady of fashion.（Thackeray，2008：4）

The first case is an extract from the letter written by Barbara Pinkerton to the mother of Amelia Sedley， in which Miss Pinkerton uses four long sentences to evaluate her pupil from several perspectives， such as virtues， accomplishments and music. After reading this letter， readers could find that different from the language adopted in other parts of the novel， the official and old-fashioned words of the headmistress could effectively excite the surprise of audiences to give their attention to traits of the character. According to Miss Jemima， an autograph letter of her sister， Miss Pinkerton， is “an object of as deep veneration as would have been a letter from a sovereign.”（Thackeray，2008：3） Therefore， we could regard the letter of this woman as an important tool to show her true features and observe the related characters mentioned in letters from her eyes.

To start with， this article focuses on the lexical level of Miss Pinkertons letter. On the basis of Oxford Advanced Learners English-Chinese Dictionary， words represented by “residence”， “honour”， “fitting”， “wanting”， “industry” and “obedience” are usually only adopted in serious or official language and would not be appropriate in normal every day conversation.Taking“obedience” and“deportment” as examples， the former refers to “respect for sb/sth or willingness to obey sb”（2009：1371） and the latter means “the way in which a person stands and moves”（ibid：536）. Although readers could understand that the choice of formal words would show teachers respect towards parents of students， the hyperformal use of terms in this letter creates a sense out of ordinary and makes readers rethink the purpose of Thackeray profoundly. In addition， the full capitalization of expressions such as“INDUSTRY” and“OBEDIENCE”，“AGED”， “YOUTHFUL” and “DEPORTMENT AND CARRIAGE” aims at attracting readers attention and stimulating their aesthetic perceptions.

Besides， defamiliarized effects achieved in the syntactical level help target audiences reshape the vivid image of Miss Pinkerton in their mind. As to them， long and compound sentences with about 41 words in each one reveal that the schoolmistress pursues the complex syntactic structure deliberately in the letter to manifest her rigorous scholarship and cultural attainments. Meanwhile， the frequent use of parenthesis draws sentences out and increases the cognitive difficulty of readers. Defamiliarization devices also include ornate phrases with aggrandizement effects， the deviant application of subordinate clause and double negation. For example， the second sentence in Case 1 is written to express the general idea that Miss Sedley， a girl with virtues and accomplishments，？goes down well with her instructors and companions. However， two subordinate clauses with the parallel structure lengthen the distance between subject and predicate； double negation represented by “not be found wanting in the amiable Miss Sedley” leads readers to reflect the specific intention of the writer； and ornate phrases are strung together to show the orthodox and inflexible style of language in Victorian era.

Case 2： The Miss Sharp， whom you mention as governess to Sir Pitt Crawley， Bart.， M. P.， was a pupil of mine， and I have nothing to say in her disfavour. Though her appearance is disagreeable， we cannot control the operations of nature； and though her parents were disreputable （her father being a painter， several times bankrupt， and her mother， as I have since learned， with horror， a dancer at the Opera）； yet her talents are considerable， and I cannot regret that I received her OUT OF CHARITY. My dread is， lest the principles of the mother — who was represented to me as a French Countess， forced to emigrate in the late revolutionary horrors； but who， as I have since found， was a person of the very lowest order and morals — should at any time prove to be HEREDITARY in the unhappy young woman whom I took as AN OUTCAST. But her principles have hitherto been correct （I believe）， and I am sure nothing will occur to injure them in the elegant and refined circle of the eminent Sir Pitt Crawley. （Thackeray，2008：92-93）

Case 2 is an extract selected from the letter written by Barbara Pinkerton to Mrs. Bute Crawley. When Becky Sharp becomes the private teacher in Sir Pitt Crawleys mansion house， her gradual establishment in the good graces of all persons in the family causes the hostility of Mrs. Bute whose husband is the brother of Mr. Crawley， the baronet. This “little， eager， active， black-faced” lady treats Becky Sharp as “an artful hussy” who has “some dreadful designs in view” and determines to get the bottom of the governess. （Thackeray， 2008： 90） In consequence， she writes a letter hurriedly to Miss Pinkerton to know the background of the young lady. As a letter in reply， Case 2 incisively shows the prejudice and dislike of Miss Pinkerton towards Becky.

In this part， the author of this article makes an attempt to analyze the extract from lexical， syntactic and textual levels so as to make devices of defamiliarization unfolded before readers eyes. First of all， many derogatory terms are chosen by the writer to express her disapproval or contempt. Different from the way to tell her evaluation directly and candidly， the headmistress talks in a roundabout way to have a lash-out at Becky Sharp， which would produce unfamiliar and ironic effects twice as much. Words such as “disfavour”， “disagreeable” and “disreputable” are some strong cases in point. Moreover， the full capitalization is applied to realize the function of emphasis and the implication of these unusual words aims to belittling Becky and putting a higher value on herself； for instance， “OUT OF CHARITY”， “HEREDITARY” and “AN OUTCAST”. Besides， lexical repetition and semantic contrast of modification are used in the letter to retain the freshness of readers perceptions. For example， the word “since” is adopted twice as an adverb in “as I have since learned” and “as I have since found” so as to show Miss Pinkerton， ignorant of Beckys family history at first， has learned information after getting in touch with the girl and the schoolmistress does not go along with her.

In addition， devices of defamiliarization are used in syntactical and textual levels. On the one hand， each sentence in this letter contains about 45 words on the average， which is much longer than the sentence written in the modern world and could increase the degree of difficulty during process of reading. A good deal of parenthesis， parallelism and subordinate？clauses are adopted in the case to throw a mist before readers eyes and deliberately show academic attainments of Miss Pinkerton. Furthermore， additional remarks in this letter reveal the ulterior motive of Miss Pinkerton. The example， that is，“her father being a painter， several times bankrupt， and her mother， as I have since learned， with horror， a dancer at the Opera” is agood case in point. The purpose for writing this supplementary information is to confirm the writers former words which describe Beckys parents as disreputable persons. The fragmented syntactic？structure and ellipsis contribute to arouse audiences interest and break the “automatized” mode of reading. On the other hand， the text as a whole serves a particular purpose of “shaping the specific character and showcasing her identity and learning”. （周方珠， 2014： 77） The formal type of writing and implied meaning beyond the literal words in letter attract readers to find the？threads of the story and understand the intention of the writer.

4 Conclusion

To sum up， an attempt is made in this article to analyze letters written by characters in Vanity Fair from the perspective of defamiliarization. Taking lexical， syntactical and textual levels into consideration， the author attaches great importance to explain how the novel retains the freshness of readers perceptions and makes people rethink profoundly. As two cases which effectively show true features of Miss Pinkerton in this essay，letters with devices of defamiliarization could successfully lead readers to ponder the gist and understand the connotation of the novel.

References：

[1]Selden， Raman & Widdowson， Peter & Brooker， Peter. A Readers Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory[M].Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press， 2012.

[2]Thackeray， W. M. Vanity Fair[M].上海：上海世界图书出版公司，2008.

[3]霍恩比 著，王玉章等 译.牛津高阶英汉双解词典：第7版[Z].北京：商务印书馆，2009.

[4]周方珠.文学翻译论[M].北京：中国对外翻译出版有限公司，2014.

[5]朱刚.二十世纪西方文艺理论批评[M].上海：上海外语教育出版社，2001.

作者简介：方怡君，女，福州大学外国语学院硕士研究生。研究方向：翻译理论与实践。师从福州大学前外国语学院院长陈小慰教授（博士），荣获全国第二十六届韩素音青年翻译奖（汉译英，名列全国前三），专业综合成绩排名第一，获福州大学2015年学术型研究生优秀学业奖学金。