Hills-Like-White-Elephants英文讲义.doc

(完整版)Hills Like White Elephants英文讲义
Unit Five
The Style
Reading： Ernest Hemingway, Hills Like White Elephants

Style: The Words That Tell the Story
The word style is understood to mean the way in which writers assemble words to tell the story， develop the argument, dramatize the play, or compose the poem。
Style is also highly individualistic。 It is a matter of the way in which specific authors put words together under specific conditions in specific works。
In its most general sense, style consists of diction （the individual words the author chooses) and syntax （the arrangement of those words and phrases， clauses, and sentences)， as well as such devices as rhythm and sound, allusion, ambiguity, irony, paradox， and figurative language.

Diction： Choice of Words
stylistic analysis begins with the attempt to identify and understand the type and quality of the individual words that comprise an author’s basic vocabulary。 When used to connection with characterization, words are the vehicles by which a character's ideas, attitude, and values are expressed。
The analysis of diction includes the following considerations: the denotative指示的 （or dictionary） meaning of words, as opposed to their connotative隐含的 meaning （the idea associated or suggested by them)； their degree of concreteness具体 or abstractness抽象; their degree of allusiveness影射; the parts of speech词类 they represent; their length and construction； the level of usage they reflect (standard or nonstandard; formal， informal, or colloquial）； the imagery （形象化描述） they contain； the figurative devices比喻手段 （simile, metaphor， personification） they embody.

Syntax: Construction of Sentences
When we examine style at the level of syntax， we are attempting to analyze the ways the author arranges words into phrases， clauses， and finally whole sentences to achieve particular effects.
In looking at an author’s syntax we want to know how the words have been arranged and particularly how they deviate from the usual and expected.
Sentences can be examined in terms of their length --- whether they are short, and economical or long and involved; in terms of their form —-— whether they are simple, compound, or complex; and in terms of their construction ——— whether they are loose (sentences that follow the normal subject-verb—object pattern， stating their main idea near the beginning in the form of an independent clause), periodic （sentences that deliberately withhold or suspend the completion of the idea until the end of the sentence)， or balanced (sentences in which two similar or antithetical对偶的 ideas are balanced).

Reading:
Ernest Hemingway， Hills Like White Elephants

Ernest Miller Hemingway （July 21, 1899 – July 2， 1961） was an American author and journalist。 His distinctive writing style， characterized by economy and understatement, influenced 20th-century fiction, as did his life of adventure and his public image。 He produced most of his work between the mid—1920s and the mid—1950s. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954.

About the Author
Ernest Hemingway (1898-1961） was born in Illinois, America. His family took him, as a boy, on frequent hunting and fishing trips and so acquainted him early with the kinds of virtues, such as courage and endurance， which were later reflected in his fiction。 After high school, he worked as a newspaper reporter and then went overseas to take part in World War I as an ambulance driver.
After the war he lived several years in Paris， where he served as a foreign correspondent for some time and where he also began his serious writing career. He became part of a group Americans who felt alienated from their country. They considered themselves a lost generation。 It was not long before he began publishing remarkable and completely individual short stories.
Hemingway's style of writing is striking。 His sentences are short and declarative， his words simple， yet they are often filled with emotion。 A careful reading can show us， furthermore, that he is a master of the pause. That is, if we look closely， we see how the action of his stories continues during the silences, during the times his characters say nothing. This action is often full of meaning. There are times when the most powerful effect comes from restraint。 Such times occur often in Hemingway's fiction。 He perfected the art of conveying emotion with few words。 Hemingway is a Classicist in his restraint and understatement。 He believes that the stronger effect comes with an economy of means.

He wrote：
A writer’s problem does not change。 He himself changes and the world he lives in changes， but his problem remains the same。 It is always how to write truly and， having found what is true, to project it in such a way that it becomes a part of the experience of the person who reads it。

“Hemingway Hero”
We call this man the “code hero”（程式化英雄), because he represents a code. According to the code the hero would be able to live properly in the world of violence, disorder， and misery to which he has been introduced and in which he lives. The code hero offers up and exemplifies certain principles of honor， courage, and endurance which in a life of tension and pain make and enable him to conduct himself well in the losing battle that is life. He shows， in the author’s favourate phrase for it, “grace under pressure”。

The Lost Generation
The best literature of the 1920's was written by exiles, the majority of whom voluntarily left America and settled in Paris。 All of them were “outsiders” who observed America society and culture objectively, from a distance。 They shunned the false idea of success put forth by the social system and looked on art as both a refuge from bourgeois society and a mirror in which America could be shown its true face。 Cut off from a sense of historical continuity by the First World War， they were named “the Lost Generation."
“The Lost Generation” is a term applied to the American writers, born around 1900， who fought in the First Word War and voluntarily exiled to Paris， forming a group against certain tendencies of older writers in the 1920s。
The common ground that these writers share：
1. They were youth from well-established families;
2。 They were white males；
3. They were ex—soldiers;
4。 They lived in Paris for a period of time；
5。 They were disillusioned.

The Iceberg Theory of Hemingway
If a writer of a prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader， if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them。 The dignity of movement of the iceberg is due to only one—eighth of it being above water。 The writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing。

Meaning of the "white elephant."
It generally means "a possession unwanted by the owner but difficult to dispose of," but it comes from the idea that Indian kings would give their enemies white elephants as gifts。 These animals could not be killed, for the white elephant was sacred， and their upkeep was very expensive, so it was a potentially ruinous gift。 So, the original meaning of white elephant would have been something like ”sacred creature."

Questions for Hills Like White Elephants：
1. Why does Hemingway provide so little information about his characters?
2。 Does the girl misunderstand the man's concern?
3。 Is the man's reassurance of the other side of the picture convincing？
4. Has the quarrel been resolved when the story ends？ Why do they smile at each other by the end of the story?
5. What is the significance of the setting?
6. “Hills like white elephants” is a comment on the natural scenery. How many times is the remark brought up in the conversation? What can be the motivations？
7。 Hemingway is said to have a great ear for dialogue. Give examples to illustrate understated meanings in the various shifts of the conversation.
8. Hemingway is celebrated for his precision of diction. His words are simple， and clear, yet they are often filled with intense emotion. The picture is clear, but the meaning is implicit。 Give examples to illustrate the effect achieved through oblique implication.
9. Why does the author choose the title as it is?
10。 Given the author’s purposes, is the chosen point of view an appropriate and effective one？