ELTWeekly Vol. 4 Issue#5 | January 30, 2012 | ISSN 0975-3036
Dr. Sitaram Bhargava is an associate professor in English at Govt.college, Taranagar,( CHURU) Rajasthan.. He is an M.Phil ( ELT ), Ph.D ( ELT ) and SLET. He has attended several national and international seminars , conferences and workshops; his several reaearch papers have been published in reputed journals.His book ‘ Decolonising English:-A Study Of The Poetry Of Nissim Ezekiel And A.K.Ramanujan ’has recently been published. His specialisation is ‘English language teaching’ and ‘ Indian writing In English’.
Abstract
The present research paper explores the relevance and purpose of stylistics in the novels of R.K.Narayan. . It is also concerned with patterns of use in given texts . Stylistics is an attempt to make literary build up a literary grammar of language , a literary transformation, and criticism much more scientific,methodological , objective and precise .It focuses the need to satisfactory definitions of various literary terms such as ‘ style ’, poem; image etc. The research paper also expresses the various device of stylistics such as – Cohesion, Foregrounding in the novels of R.K.Narayan with special reference to the novel ‘The Guide’.It concentrates on features of connotation, implication, presupposition Contained in the lexical, the syntactical and the phonological parameters of the text which are built in the style of the creative writer.
Introduction
The present research paper explores the relevance and purpose of stylistics in the novel of R.K.Narayan. . The Guide , first published by Viking press ,New York, is the most widely read of R.K.Narayan’s novels. It has been translated into the leading languages of Europe and India,has had huge sales through, has been prescribed for study at post-graduate standard in many universities, and has been made into an immensely popular film in Hindi and English .It won for him the Sahitya Academy Award in 1961.This celebrated novel tells the story of Raju, and ‘the rise and fall of his fortune as guide , lover , and impresario and then his end as ‘ a saint who is neither born nor made but simply happens almost like the weather .The narration is kept moving at two levels-the flash back and the flash on- the past recounted by Raju to Velan and the present as narrated by the omniscient author. R.K.Narayan follows in this novel , new techniques of telling a story. He uses both ‘flash on ‘ and ‘ flash back’ techniques in juxtaposition by describing alternately the incidents of the present life of Raju as they actually take place and the incidents of his early life as they are being retold by him to Velan.This method keeps the curiosity of the reader alive as regards both the present and the past events of Raju’s life.It also provides a fresh vigour and interest to the novelist ‘s art of narration.‘The Guide’ seems technically more complicated although more satisfying.The first page leaves many questions unanswered and as a stylistic device this is the best way to begin. The narration is the third person and the time scheme is a little confusing and jarring.This too intrigues the reader.In the beginning of the story , we do come to know that ‘ Raju’ is now out of jail and in lonely place where he has been staying cut off from all humanity for the past two days.Here he is happy to accost a simple rustic who eyes him reverentially.Nothing more is conveyed except a few details about the rustic who is on his way back from his daughter ‘s house after a short visit.Although the passage is cohesive, yet lacks a well-defined context.Sentence 1 begins by identifying two things, first, that Raju is in lonely place and second, that he is bored of his loneliness.Therefore , the ‘ intrusion is welcome.Sentence 2 connects the ‘intrusion’ with the ‘ man’ who stands gazing reverentially on Raju’s face. There is a psychological build-up and progression in this passage.There is an incipient feeling underlying every sentence that what will come next can take only two forms – either an explication and thereafter elaboration of the fact thar Raju was deified; or an explication and elaboration of ‘how’and’why’ he went to jail.
Stylistics is the study of the social function of language and is a branch of what has come to be called sociolinguistics . Its aims to characterize texts as pieces of communication. It is not part of its purpose to provide a means of discovering the different social functions of language. It is technological rather than scientific in that it works on data provided by others. Texts are assumed to be given. Stylistics is the scientific study of style and that looks at the components of meaning .It concentrates on features of connotation, implication, presupposition Contained in the lexical, the syntactical and the phonological parameters of the text which are built in the style of the creative writer. G.Leech’s approach to stylistic analysis differs essentially from that of Halliday and Sinclair in that it aims at relating linguistic description with critical interpretation , and at showing how the latter can benefit from the former .He points out that ‘ a work of literature contains dimensions of meaning additional to those operating in other types of discourse , and he suggests that for this reason descriptive linguistics can not simply be applied indifferently to literary as to other types of text. He discovers three features of literary expression representing different dimensions of meaning which are not covered by the normal categories of linguistic description with several references. These three features are- Cohesion ; Foregrounding; and Cohesion of Foregrounding.
For Cohesion, R.K.Narayan takes recourse to lexical repetition, the use of pronouns and definite article.Besides these, the underlying idea is a strong unifying link between paragraphs.A careful arrangement of paragraphs is another distinctive feature which is very evident from the organization of material. Despite being a part of a bulk, the beginnings are all self-contained units.The premise overtly stated or hinted in the introductory lines is verified at the end summing up the logic and sequence in short, well defined sentences. Cohesion means the intra textual relations of a grammatical and lexical kind which knit the parts of a text together into a complete unit of discourse and which , therefore convey the meaning of the text as a whole.In the poem, under consideration , for instance, there is a lexical cohesion in the repetition of words’ oak ’ and ‘ break ’ and in the connection between items which share common semantic features like:- ‘ bread –oats- crops,’ wine- tree- fruit- grape- vine- drink, day- night, summer- sun, etc. Leech also points out that cohesion is not the unique property of poetry but is a feature of all types of text since it is this which combines separate linguistic units into stretches of meaningful discourse.By foregrounding means the deliberate deviation from the rules of the language code or from the accepted conventions of its use which stands out , or is foregrounded against a background of normal usage. Forgrounding occurs , therefore, when the semantic features of an item in the code do not correspond with those which are bestowed upon it by the contextual environment in which it appears. Leech also points out another manifestation of foregrounding. This occurs when the writer instead of exercising a wider choice than is permitted him by the code deliberately renounces his choice and produces uniformity where variety would normally be expected. Cohesion of Foregrounding is meant the manner in which deviations in a text are related to each other to form intra-textual patterns .
R.K.Narayan prefers simple sentences to complex ones.The passages have approximately a ratio of 1:8 between complex and simple sentences.The complexity , if arises due to subordination and coordination both. Relative clauses are frequently used for pre-modification and post modification. Anticipatory clauses, also frequently used to serve the purpose of orientation and add suspense to the writing.An interesting feature of Narayan’s style is the use of articles.He makes use of generic references, but far from attaching insignificance these serve as foregrounding devices which make explicit the intentions and inclinations of the characters.It also serves as a scale to measure the weightage the writer assigns to a particular character or idea.A well known feature of Narayan’s style is his use of figures of speech. Metaphors and similies , personification , pathetic fallacy, alliteration and assonance are very common, but the towering figure employed by Narayan is that of irony which serves as the leitmotif in almost all his writings.R.K.Narayan in the garb of beautiful words and phrases has tried to probe deep into human psyche . The findings range from amusing to laughable, from laughable to ridiculous and from ridiculous to pathetic.Seldom does he give vent to anger ,because that might prove to be destructive , instead he leaves the final word to the reader .Perhaps this is his way of purging life of its baseness.R.K.Narayan like Jane Austin paints on a limited canvas( that of Malgudi). This awareness is reflected in his words.Paradoxes, ellipsis and parenthesis are other devices employed freely.They save the narration from excessive formality, retaining naturalness of expression.Parenthesis can be termed as asides with the reader, a kind of intimacy resulting in happy rapport.Parenthesis also serves the purpose of explanation, modification, comment and reflection.
R.K.Narayan’s deviant use of lexis foregrounds some expression or the other very frequently , in fact some critics consider them too frequent. Marked contextual patterns in smaller units like sentences and paragraphs are part of the special design on which each work is framed.Conventional plots are replaced by carefully wrought artistic plans, befitting the underlying idea.His varied application of different grammatical categories and devices make his language natural, fluent and striking. The end product is a happy combination of conceptual and non conceptual deviance.As a result of all the above characteristics , his novels can be placed in Bacon’s third category,i.e., those which are to be chewed and digested.’ R.K.Narayan ‘s greatest asset is his language and the novelty of approach is in his technique. In its substance and portrayal of life, The Guide’ is close to the thematic pattern of ‘ Mr.Sampath’ and ‘The Financial Expert’. The central theme of human avarice , over possessiveness , and acqusitiveness growing into an obsession has an underlying , though unobtrusive theme of detachment which is to grow further in his other novels. The Guide has a complex structural pattern and takes into its sweep a panaromic view of the Indian scene, both rural and urban.Narayan’s delineation of family relationships-between mother and son, and between husband and wife –has characteristiceconomy and perspicacity.The theme of marital disharmony was treated by him in the ‘Dark Room’ but The Guide has the more authentic psychological basis of conjugal incompatibility.
Stylistics is the scientific study of style and that at the components of meaning .
It concentrates on features of connotation, implication, presupposition looks Contained in the lexical, the syntactical and the phonological parameters of the text, which are built in the style of the creative writer.It makes graphological, gesticulatory and mechanical (commas, dashes, semi colon, etc.) details more meaningful. Stylistics is not something opposed to literary criticism, for between true literature and linguistics , there is no conflict ; the real linguist is at least half a literateur and the real literateur at least half a linguist.’The great asset of Narayan as a descriptive artist is his graceful and simple style.There are very few Indian writers who are able to handle English with so much purity and elegance as he does.He is a master of excellent English prose.both in narrative and dialogue.It is to the ease , the refinement and the exquisite naturalness of his prose that we owe a large part of our pleasure in reading him.The most striking quality of Narayan’s prose style is its simplicity and transparency.It is direct and free from affectation and obscurity. It is never pompous and dull.It is also never repetitive. It is always marked by clarity and exactness,e.i.,by the rare quality of saying exactly what is intended as unmistakably and simply as possible, without false or straining after effect. Simplicity and clarity of his style is mainly the result of his use of the very language of everyday life and his scrupulous adherence to the accepted patterns of sentence structure, and choice of words.Narayan’s is not an experimental but a conservative and traditional style. He never uses sentences of complicated grammatical construction with such dependent and subordinate clauses, as make the sense difficult to follow.He seldom uses Hindustani words and phrases in his narrative , that is why he rarely needs any glossary and his English never appears slovenly and jerky.Narayan’s style is also notable for its economy of detail and purity.It is never weighed with words or marked by proxity.His English has a virile force and a mastery which conveys the maximum of meaning in the fewest and simplest words.It is the stylistic features of his art of fiction that are being analysed in this study.R.K.Narayan’s novel ‘The Guide’ appeared in 1958. He has explored further possibilities of the strange and sudden rise and fall in man’s life. Like Daniel Defoe he gives the minutest details of every situation his hero has to pass through.His experience of life is so wide and his observation so keen that nothing escapes him.Whether it is the description of Raju as a small boy sitting in the shop of his father and officiating for him, or as a shopkeeper at the railway station, or as a tourist guide, or as an impresario, or as a feigned saint.
R.K.Narayan is a story teller in the Indian tradition of story telling .The narration moves forwarded chronologically , each succeeding event being linked casually with the previous one.There is no looking forward or backward , no probing of the sub conscious or even the unconscious as is the case with novelists like Virginia Woolf, James Joyce and others. As Paul Vergese points out , ‘ Narayan’s is the most simple form of prose fiction-the story which records a succession of events .There is no hiatus between character and plot.; both are inseparably knit together.The qualities the novelist attributes to these characters determine the action, and the action in turn progressively changes the characters and thus the story is carried forward to the end.In other words, as a good story teller, Narayan sees to it that his story has a beginning , a middle and an end. The end of his novel is a solution of the problem which sets the events moving and beyond which the action cannot progress. This end very often consists either in balance of forces and counter forces or in death or both.’’ However , ‘The Guide’ is an exception in this respect. The narrative technique Narayan has followed in this novel is different from that of the other novels. In all his novels except ‘The English teacher’,‘ The Guide’ and ‘The Man Eaterof Malgudi’ Narayan is the omniscient author writing in the third person and thus following the traditional and conventional mode of narration. In the ‘Guide’, Narayan deviates from the traditional mode of narration; part of the story is told by the author and part in the first person by the hero himself. This is certainlyin improvement in Narayan ‘s narrative technique; here however it is necessitated by the nature of the story. The novel begins with the release of Raju from prison .Whatever happens to Raju after his release is told by the narrator-the novelist; whereas whatever happened to Raju before he was imprisoned is told in a series of flashbacks in Raju’s own words, in the form of a confession to Velan who come to think of him as a saint.
The effect of this technique is to make the figure of the hero more sharp and real than the other characters.Also, Raju in making the confession characterizes himself by what he reports and how he reports it. The impression that the reader gets is that Raju’s character develops because of certain events and the events in turn change his character till he finds a saint, fasting to induce rain for the drought-affected village in response to the expectations of a crowd of admirers and worshippers .In other words , character and action develop simultaneously and both influence each other .It is in this way that the complex personality of Raju is built up and made convincing and credible.The interesting technique of narration Narayan has used in this novel keeps the curiosity of the readers alive , regarding both the past and present of Raju.It makes the narrative fresh ,vigorous and interesting.As the past and present are cunningly jumbled , there is a constant impression of suspense and anticipation.The zig-zag narration gives a piquancy to the novel without in any way confusing the reader .In this way Raju becomes his own critic and we are enabled to see the action as Raju sees it , and as the later Raju sober sees the earlier Raju ‘Drunk’. In this way, the past and the present are juxtaposed, and each illuminatesthe other .In short, the technique of narration the novelist has followed in ‘The Guide’ is complex and original and unique in several ways.
R.K.Narayan follows in this novel , new techniques of telling a story. He uses both ‘flash on ‘ and ‘ flash back’ techniques in juxtaposition by describing alternately the incidents of the present life of Raju as they actually take place and the incidents of his early life as they are being retold by him to Velan.This method keeps the curiosity of the reader alive as regards both the present and the past events of Raju’s life.It also provides a fresh vigour and interest to the novelist ‘s art of narration.‘The Guide’ seems technically more complicated although more satisfying.The first page leaves many questions unanswered and as a stylistic device this is the best way to begin. The narration is the third person and the time scheme is a little confusing and jarring.This too intrigues the reader.In the beginning of the story , we do come to know that ‘ Raju’ is now out of jail and in lonely place where he has been staying cut off from all humanity for the past two days.Here he is happy to accost a simple rustic who eyes him reverentially.Nothing more is conveyed except a few details about the rustic who is on his way back from his daughter ‘s house after a short visit.Although the passage is cohesive, yet lacks a well-defined context.Sentence 1 begins by identifying two things, first, that Raju is in lonely place and second, that he is bored of his loneliness.Therefore , the ‘ intrusion is welcome.Sentence 2 connects the ‘intrusion’ with the ‘ man’ who stands gazing reverentially on Raju’s face. There is a psychological build-up and progression in this passage.There is an incipient feeling underlying every sentence that what will come next can take only two forms – either an explication and thereafter elaboration of the fact thar Raju was deified; or an explication and elaboration of ‘how’and’why’ he went to jail.
Stylistics as a tool of enquiry , of interpretation of literature is fast gaining ground .It is now more than ever before realized and accepted that a linguistic approach to literature is an aid that helps us in discovering certain nuances whose absence or neglect would have crippled a total understanding of the text. Sometimes stylistic or linguistic approach to literature is misunderstood as sheer tabulation of grammatical categories ,, without any consideration of the intrinsic merit of a literary work. Far from being lists of grammatical categories . Stylistics is a link between linguistics and literature. Modern criticism looks upon a work of literary art as an organic unity , in which matter and manner, thought and expression, are indissolubly one. The present day –style studies are based on the verbal texture and literary craftsmanship of the work of art. External literary history and conventional literary judgement has been caste off as an obsolete irrelevance. Precise reference and analysis has given birth to a new kind of stylistic criticism .
The novels when viewed as the work of one person , do reveal some common features of style, R.K.Narayan prefers simple words to polysyllabic words. A discreet mixture of Saxon and archaic words give his English a narrative touch. Although writing about human psyche he uses more concrete nouns than abstract.This is to eliminate the ‘ disjunction of self and world’. As a result of this his writing gives an authenticity, since man’s two halves the subjective and objective make a whole. For vividness and visibility, he includes adjectives, referring to physical and psychological states.The narrative voice is mirrored in evaluative epithets. A large number of adverbs of time,place ,direction, and degree give his writing a palpable quality-and the adverbs of manner throw light on the personalities of the characters, so as to render their total image for immediate apprehension.A judicious use of disjunc,adjuncts and conjuncts clarifies the contrasts and juxtapositions of which of his writing is full. A balanced use of transitive and intransitive verbs adds speed to the progression of images, which are created in order to dramatize an inner conflict and symbolize it objectively through a situation or object. The transitive verbs give the reader an impression of movement and activity and thus add liveliness to the description.
With ‘Guide’,NaraYan has established himself as a master of fictional technique. It won thesahityaAcademyAward in 1960.’The Guide’ is the story of Raju, a rather restless and ambitious shopkeeper on Malgudi Railway station, who turns a tourist guide and who in the discharge of such duties in one case rides on the crest of an adulterous passion for Rosie, a dancer ,right into jail.At the conclusion of two year imprisonment he emerges only to embark upon another crisis of his life which ends with his last adventure in realms of enforced sainthood. The story of Raju falls into two parts- the past and the present. The past is told by Raju, the present by the author.The past and the present are related by the skillful plot construction.The consistently braided time – scheme that is used in the novel contributes to a better and deeper understanding of the hero who is both a swindler and a holyman,By alternating two time schemes at sharp interwals the author brings into focus those aspects of Raju’s character which are essential for an understanding of his inner confusion.’’
Conclusion
Having understood the concept of stylistics, and being applied to the novels of R.K.Narayan, this becomes clear that the scope of stylistics is not confined to its surface study level, it has also something to do with other aspects of linguistics, such as – Phonetics ;graphology ; grammar; lexicology ; synyax ;psychology ; sociology and stastistics, and so on. Unlike other novels of R.K.Narayan, it is clearly evident in the novel’The Guide’ that the author has used simple and lucid vocabulary. He has frequently used aricles,adjectives or parts of speech at appropriate places. As microscope to the study of life sciences , so is stylistics to the study of literature .It affords in sights and aids perception in ways irreplaceable by any other means . In spite of several criticism laid down against the concept, stylistics performs a very faithful and committed duty towards the various aspects of literature and English language teaching .
References
Narayan,R.K.;(1958) The Guide’, Indian Thought Publications,,Mysore.
Leech, G.M.;( 1966 ) A Linguistics Guide to English poetry’ vol.2 Freeman,New York
Halliday , M.A.K.;( 1964 ) ‘ Discriptive Linguistics in Literary Studies.’
Sinclair, J.McH. ( 1966 ) Essays on Style And Language’, Routledge and kegan paul.
Thorne,J.P., ( 1965) Stylistics and generative grammars’,vol.1.Freeman,New York
Quirk & Greenbaum,R, (1973) A University Grammar Of English , London
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