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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Main Author: Jacqueline Fromonot
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée 2006-12-01
Series:Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
Online Access:http://journals.openedition.org/cve/12569
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author Jacqueline Fromonot
author_facet Jacqueline Fromonot
author_sort Jacqueline Fromonot
collection DOAJ
description 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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spelling doaj.art-ba1432de8bdc459498ce72a630ed21e12023-10-03T10:40:15ZengPresses Universitaires de la MéditerranéeCahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens0220-56102271-61492006-12-016310.4000/cve.12569Le langage de l’hypocrisie chez quelques personnages dickensiens : une rhétorique de l’excèsJacqueline FromonotThis 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.http://journals.openedition.org/cve/12569
spellingShingle Jacqueline Fromonot
Le langage de l’hypocrisie chez quelques personnages dickensiens : une rhétorique de l’excès
Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
title Le langage de l’hypocrisie chez quelques personnages dickensiens : une rhétorique de l’excès
title_full Le langage de l’hypocrisie chez quelques personnages dickensiens : une rhétorique de l’excès
title_fullStr Le langage de l’hypocrisie chez quelques personnages dickensiens : une rhétorique de l’excès
title_full_unstemmed Le langage de l’hypocrisie chez quelques personnages dickensiens : une rhétorique de l’excès
title_short Le langage de l’hypocrisie chez quelques personnages dickensiens : une rhétorique de l’excès
title_sort le langage de l hypocrisie chez quelques personnages dickensiens une rhetorique de l exces
url http://journals.openedition.org/cve/12569
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