L’expression linguistique de la marche dans Mrs Dalloway de Virginia Woolf : équilibre et déséquilibres de l’être

The present article examines the linguistic choices made to refer to walking in Mrs Dalloway. While in an urban environment, walking itself is so elemental that all the characters do so, the linguistic means used by Woolf prove particularly significant. Walking, which is intrinsically dynamic, can t...

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Main Author: Laure Gardelle
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée 2013-09-01
Series:Études Britanniques Contemporaines
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journals.openedition.org/ebc/534
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author Laure Gardelle
author_facet Laure Gardelle
author_sort Laure Gardelle
collection DOAJ
description The present article examines the linguistic choices made to refer to walking in Mrs Dalloway. While in an urban environment, walking itself is so elemental that all the characters do so, the linguistic means used by Woolf prove particularly significant. Walking, which is intrinsically dynamic, can thus be referred to via static phrases, or might even not be mentioned at all; conversely, the syntactic and semantic choices can make it appear excessive. Based on a corpus of 134 occurrences taken from all the passages in which a character proceeds along the streets, the study shows that these linguistic choices are not random at all: walking appears as a reflection of the balance or imbalance of the being, whose living force is at grips with a sense of proportion and threatened by alienation. Finally, it is proposed that the dynamic component inherent in walking can be interpreted as a metaphor of the living force which is to be found in all individuals.
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spelling doaj.art-c66725041caf4045818cee6e6d1cca0b2022-12-22T01:29:50ZengPresses Universitaires de la MéditerranéeÉtudes Britanniques Contemporaines1168-49172271-54442013-09-014410.4000/ebc.534L’expression linguistique de la marche dans Mrs Dalloway de Virginia Woolf : équilibre et déséquilibres de l’êtreLaure GardelleThe present article examines the linguistic choices made to refer to walking in Mrs Dalloway. While in an urban environment, walking itself is so elemental that all the characters do so, the linguistic means used by Woolf prove particularly significant. Walking, which is intrinsically dynamic, can thus be referred to via static phrases, or might even not be mentioned at all; conversely, the syntactic and semantic choices can make it appear excessive. Based on a corpus of 134 occurrences taken from all the passages in which a character proceeds along the streets, the study shows that these linguistic choices are not random at all: walking appears as a reflection of the balance or imbalance of the being, whose living force is at grips with a sense of proportion and threatened by alienation. Finally, it is proposed that the dynamic component inherent in walking can be interpreted as a metaphor of the living force which is to be found in all individuals.http://journals.openedition.org/ebc/534équilibreexcèslinguistiquemarchesémantiquesilence
spellingShingle Laure Gardelle
L’expression linguistique de la marche dans Mrs Dalloway de Virginia Woolf : équilibre et déséquilibres de l’être
Études Britanniques Contemporaines
équilibre
excès
linguistique
marche
sémantique
silence
title L’expression linguistique de la marche dans Mrs Dalloway de Virginia Woolf : équilibre et déséquilibres de l’être
title_full L’expression linguistique de la marche dans Mrs Dalloway de Virginia Woolf : équilibre et déséquilibres de l’être
title_fullStr L’expression linguistique de la marche dans Mrs Dalloway de Virginia Woolf : équilibre et déséquilibres de l’être
title_full_unstemmed L’expression linguistique de la marche dans Mrs Dalloway de Virginia Woolf : équilibre et déséquilibres de l’être
title_short L’expression linguistique de la marche dans Mrs Dalloway de Virginia Woolf : équilibre et déséquilibres de l’être
title_sort l expression linguistique de la marche dans mrs dalloway de virginia woolf equilibre et desequilibres de l etre
topic équilibre
excès
linguistique
marche
sémantique
silence
url http://journals.openedition.org/ebc/534
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