On the Interaction of Dialogue and Monologue
The modern novel has created a danger that people will grow out of the habit to read text with interest. However, they have manifested so many interesting peculiarities that fortunately this did not happen. One of such peculiarities we consider different interaction of the forms of language structure - dialogue and monologue, namely as to how the above mentioned forms alternate each other in a modern novel and why the boundaries between them disappear from time to time. It should be noted that this process often creates special concept of time - one of the dominant peculiarities of the modern novel upon which the structure of modernist and postmodernist literature is based.
In the 20th century novel acquired flexibility and developed perfectly developed such form of narration as it is "inner monologue" by mean of which new, complex, non homogeneous personages were created; new technical means, including variety of dialogue and monologue.
As is known, dialogue and monologue are the notions opposite to each other. They represent the means of language structure with the help of which the author makes his personages speak. In the work the author uses direct or indirect speech. It is just by redistribution of thee two types of speech that the author avoids boredom and monotony. The role of a dialogue can be counted to be fulfilled if the reader creates an illusion that the interlocutor addresses to another personage and it does not represent only a pretext of the speech mise-en-scène. Only in the case if there is no listener, the author himself appears in the role of a narrator (doer).
As is well known, the tradition of writing dialogues is as hard as that of a novel and epic (e.g. Homer's Iliad). There is more than one novel in literature written in the form of dialogue in which the inclusion of sentences simply is simply changed by mentioning the names of the speakers (e.g.Deni Didro's Jacques the Fatalist). The representatives of the so-called "new novel" write in the form of a dialogue. As an example we can name M.Duras's English Lovely Woman in which the alternation of the interlocutors is indicated only by dashes and typographic symbols: italics, Roman type.
Obviously in such types of literary works there is no room left for narrative discourse; it is completely regarded as a dialogized novel. In traditional novel the author can do commentary to the personages' views and thoughts. The rule of separating the interlocutors from each other by parenthesis is opposed by such writers as N.Sarot, R.Keno, etc.
The dialogues to a certain degree create mimet illusion. In traditional novel their consideration is possible in written transcription of really pronounced words. As to the monologue, it is based on well-expressed condition in which two cases are regarded:
1. In the first case a personage is speaking loudly; at that time the novel repeats the rule of a drama when a personage creates for himself thoughts and sensations and this talk in reality is intended for a viewer. The difference between the monologues in plays and novels actually does not exist but perhaps, proceeding from reality it is more artificial. It is due to the fact that while being alone we address only loudly pronounced monologues in the form of exclamations or short, broken phrases.
2. In the second case the personage does not express his thought loudly.
The use of the both mentioned cases is inevitable in the genre of novel. The novelist has an opportunity not only to describe isolated personage but alto "penetrate" into his thoughts. Her we also deal with two cases: the first concerns "true" inner monologue when the novelist takes into account transcription of broken phrases which circle the course personage's consciousness; and the second one - inner speech which forms clearly built sentences pronounced loudly in the mind of a literary hero.
As we have already mentioned, monologue is a means of expressing personage's feelings and thought which in modern narrative literature the word "inner" was added. The latter has preserved the scene function in order to produce dramatization of consciousness at the moment of his "work" irrespective of the author.
The history of inner monologue has been started from the 19th century. Its boundaries and forms were successively changed depending on how scientific or ethic imagination on human psyche and self analysis evolved. However, the roots of modern literature and moreover inner monologue are far deeper.
The existence of inner speech in the novel is possible to be the sign that a creator, conditionally, creates the stream of consciousness with a logical and disintegrated structure or at the time of a limited and exception case, a character forms himself his own thoughts, for example, with foreseeing that he would tell in this or that situation.
The dialogical orientation makes the new and important artistic possibilities in a word and its particular prosaic artistic value in a novel. As to the inner dialogue, it has a subjective-psychological character and frequently occurs at random. The interlocutor expresses his thoughts in imperative mood so that addresses nobody. Such speech, in the literature, is often called a dissimulation that would be described as a dialogue with the imaginary interlocutor who is the representative of a public. The interlocutor is alone in the monologue and speaks with himself, he is the addressee of himself. There are cases when monologue takes the place in the middle of the dialogue. Such case is considered as "Apart" (separated talk).
Generally, a protagonist's inner monologue bears the trace of the author-narrator's view rather than direct speech in dialog. In inner monologue the author does not show personage's individuality any more in the way he did it in a dialogue. While showing the thoughts of the protagonist in inner monologue the author focuses on their essence and not their form. It is considered that intensive alteration of dialogue and monologue is used for rendering of man's subjective world and his tragism. And this is described with exceptional tension in modern novel.
Below we consider several concrete cases when the peculiarities of the interaction of a dialogue and monologue are manifested. It is known that the literature of "consciousness flow" is actually based on the technique of the inner monologue by which the "restoration " of the feelings occur or these feelings are "clothed" with words and take a certain form. Classic writers of the literature of "consciousness flow" James Joyce, William Faulkner, , Virginia Woolf and others - the boundary between "other'' word, author's remark and personage's inner monologues erased. Therfore the mentioned writers do not use the claws. At Joyce dialogue and monologue are "broken', externally dissociated associations and imaginations coexist side by side. Though, sometimes there can be found the link between certain logic and real plane in the content of the inner monologue. Here is one of the examples: The personage of Joyce's Ulysses (1921) , Stiven is helping one of the students in solving the algebra problem during the lesson. The events proceeding in Stiven's consciousness, dialogue, inner monologue and author's words do not single out from each other by any signs:
" -Do you understand now? Can you work the second
for yourself?
-Yes, sir.
In long shaky strokes Sargent copied the data. [...] a faint hue of shame flickering behind his dull skin. Amor matris: subjective and objective genitive. With her weak blood and wheysour milk she had fed him and hid from sight of others his swaddling bands.
Like him was I, these sloping shoulders, this gracelessness. My childhood bends beside me. Too far [...] Mine is far and hissecret as our eyes. Secrets, silent, stony sit in the dark palaces of both our hearts: secrets weary of their tyranny: tyrants, willing to be dethroned.
The sum was done" [Joyce , 1983:38 http://www.planetpdf.com/planetpdf/pdfs/free_ebooks/Ulysses_NT.pdf : p. 49].
As is seen in Stiven's inner speech imaginary pictures prevail over logically formed thoughts. Dialogue, monologue and author's words are mixed with each other. Manipulation of the narrator with punctuation marks from the viewpoint of comprehension of this or that episode provokes the reader's confusion.
Unlike Joyce, the 20-th century French woman-writer Collete uses the commas to avoid this confusion. Collete's well-known novel Cheri (1920) starts with the dialogue between Cheri and Leas. The ways of forming the dialogue attracts our attention. Here the speech of two personages is detached from each other by commas, then by dashes, then again with commas. The inner dialogues are included in them directly. The monologues are also found in the middle part of author's narration so that it does not single out by paragraphs.
The dialogues of the novel La Chatte (1960) either turn into inner monologues or questions, which remain unanswered and deepen misunderstanding between the speakers even more. Camila who had thrown her husband's beloved cat from the window, tries to justify herself and says that she wished the cat's death the same way as of a rival woman. Camila is scolding at Alain that he has changed her for the cat and the cat is an animal. At these words quiet Alain ironically chuckles away that is followed by couple's mixed monologues and dialogues. They talk but continue to prove their own truth only in their minds, but they talk to each other totally senselessly:
" - Saha n'est pas ta rivale, dit Alain simplement.
«comment serait-elle ta rivale?" poursuivit-il en lui-même. "Tu ne peux avoir de rivales que dans l'impur...»
-- Je n'avais pas besoin d'une protestation aussi sérieuse, mon chéri" [Colette, 1960: 150].
The use of commas by the writer shows the reader that this sentene is not spoken in a loud voice. As the majority of Colette's inner monologues, Alain's phrases contain interrogative questions :
« Je veux bien admettre que Saha est une bête... Si elle en est vraiment une, qu'y a-t-il de supérieur à cette bête, et comment le ferais-je comprendre à Camille? Elle me fait rire, cette petite criminelle toute nette, tout indignée et vertueuse, qui prétend savoir ce que c'est qu' une bête..."[Colette, 1960: 156].
The inner discourse is the way by which men's spiritual attitude is manifested. The interconnection between dialogues and monologues appears as essencial condition of showing their thoughts. Using such method the woman-writer reaches such psychological heights that she can be compared with Stendhal or even Dostoevsky. Her novel is not loaded with any didacticism which could be left as a subject of confrontation of personages' voices. Here the narrator can also add his voice. From this viewpoint it is emphasised that the level of "dialogism" which attained by Collette's creativity. The art of construction a dialogue which adds lightness to the narration unexpectedly provides interesting and essential information.
Colette's novel The Vagrant (Fr. - Vagabonde 1910) is, probably, the best specimen of novel-dialogue and novel-monologue simultaneously. Also, critics justly consider it a narcissus book by the level of characters, chronotope (time-space) and narrative technique as well as the depth of themes. This novel manifests the problem of the search for one's own self and finding oneself again. The name and surname of a woman protagonist, Rene Nere is the reflection of each other that produces an imitation of two images of narcissism. By the use of monologues and dialogues of the same intensity the relation with alter ego namely occurs. The writer unexpectedly gives monologue the form of a dialogue in which the consciousness of the character reflects the talk to another personage by association. In this case we probably deal with reminiscences as in Proust's works. In this novel, the use of numerous commas, hyphens or paragraphs shows that the writer's style is directed to dialogue that easily pass on inner monologues that are animated by the emphatic expressions such as oratorical question, description of one's own self (the woman-protagonist) in a mirror, double identity of `she` with `I`. Here is one episode:
"Trois ans de music-hall et de théâtre ne m'ont pas change, je suis toujours prête trop tôt.Dix heures trente-cinq... Si Je n'ouvre ce livre... qui traîne sur la tablette à fards, ou le Paris-Sport que l'habilleuse poitait du bout de mon crayon à sourcils, je vais me trouver seule avec moi-même, en face de cette conseillère maquillée qui me regarde, de l'autre côté de la glace, avec de profonds yeux... Elle a des pomettes vives, de la même couleur que les phlox des jardins, des levres d'un rouge noir, brillanteset comme vernies... Elle me regarde longtemps, et je sais qu'elle va parler... Elle va me dire: "Est-ce toi qui es lè?.. Là, toute seule, dans cette cage aux murs blancs que des mains oisives, impatientes, prisonnières, ont écorchés d'initiales entrelacées, brodes de figures indecentes et naives?.. Pourquoi es-tu là, toute seule? Et pourquoi pas ailleurs? » [Colette, 1910: 5-6].
This paragraph is rather intricate. The "deeply set eyes" develop sensitive-affected attitude and connotation of silence. The adjectives are literary rarely used earlier. Comparison of the colours creates expansion that holds us away from the description of the face and other impression and forms an opinion on the imaginary environment. The author' phrase is full with surprises. The straightforwardness is false. Form or idea is sought in the depth of the lost time that is characteristic for the genre of autobiography. One must take into consideration Collette's "quoted speech" and related forms placed into its commas called by Aothier "auronemes" [Aothier, 1997:69].
It is noteworthy that the writer rarely uses polysemic or polyphonic narration forms as unsubordinated direct and indirect speech. She does not address traditional indirect speech either. Collete's "others" are the same alter egos. The writer is interested in polyvalent relations that she restores together with "others" by means of fictitious dialogues.
French writer R.Keno is a master of poetization of language games; the intrigue created by him is not based on any real postulates any more. This or that event is unfolding in witty forms of dialogue. The writer's language masterly plays on all concrete levels of speech and sometimes adds lofty style to colloquial French.
The talk about specific writers will take us far. We restrict ourselves to the general analysis and state that phraseological course of the 20th-century writers is directed to a dialogue that at the same time can be a monologue. Monologue that fixes the motion of a soul, the nuances of inflection, increases the tension that the dialogue fails to do in full. It is of melodramatic tone. Dialogue cannot express spiritual attitude of a man. In case of inner monologues sometimes author's ordinary description takes place; sometimes - transfer of author's opinion to personage's viewpoint and often the viewpoint of the personage himself is shown, i.e. such kind of a sentence of syntactic organization that does not correspond either to outer beholder nor personage's perception.
Dialogues often transfer to such form of the inner monologue which are called "cited monologues". This is the manner of narration unfolded in associated-subjective present tense, rendered in the first person that is syntactically regulated but contains more than one sign characteristic to the inner speech of the stream of consciousness.
As we have already mentioned in modern novels psychological viewpoint comes to the foreground. The story is rendered by the author-narrator through the interchange of personage's dialogues and inner speech which are masterly matched to each other. The novelists are skilled to use equally objective and subjective methods of narration, `to say` and `to show`. Frequently, readers receive the direct speech of characters without a mediator, for this they are forced to find out the problems of characters' relations, to understand what and why are anything happening.
In today's books the phrases are long. The use of ligature style of question-answer is noted. The writers express the complexity of feelings through the complexity of form. The interaction of dialogue and monologue has a great affect on its diegetic style and it is worth of reader's attention.
References
Joyce J. 1983 |
Ullice. Tbilisi, (in Georgian). |
Authier B. 1997 |
Cahiers Colette # 19. Société des Amis de Colette |
Berthelot F. 2001 |
Parole et dialogue dans le roman. Paris. |
Colette 1960 |
La Chatte. Paris. |
Colette 1910 |
La Vagabonde. Paris. |
Dictionnaire… 1997 |
Dictionnaire des genres et notions littéraire. Albin Michel, Encyclopaedia Universalis. Paris |
Guellouz S. 1990 |
Le Dialogue. Paris. |
Maingueneau D. 1997 |
Pragmatique pour le discours littéraire. Paris. |
Joyce J. |
Ulysses. http://www.planetpdf.com/planetpdf/pdfs/free_ebooks/Ulysses_NT.pdf |