Le langage de l’hypocrisie chez quelques personnages dickensiens : une rhétorique de l’excès
This paper is part of a study on the representation of mendacity in Victorian fiction, and deals more specifically with the narrative strategies which are used to denounce the insincerity of some Dickensian characters, like the Lammles (Our Mutual Friend) and the Heeps (David Copperfield). Firstly,...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée
2006-12-01
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| Series: | Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens |
| Online Access: | http://journals.openedition.org/cve/12569 |
| Summary: | This paper is part of a study on the representation of mendacity in Victorian fiction, and deals more specifically with the narrative strategies which are used to denounce the insincerity of some Dickensian characters, like the Lammles (Our Mutual Friend) and the Heeps (David Copperfield). Firstly, it seems obvious that excessive language makes it possible for the reader to spot hypocrisy, since inauthentic speeches, burdened with repetitions and hyperboles, undoubtedly betray the speaker’s dishonesty. However, the very heuristic potential of such deceptive language can be questioned. In Dickens’s fiction, it appears that no linguistic element can distinguish for certain truthful speech from false, as they happen to be characterized by the same stylistic devices. The conclusion will explore Dickens’s various reasons for the use of caricature and its excesses, and the access to truth which excessive distorsion can paradoxically provide. |
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| ISSN: | 0220-5610 2271-6149 |