The Art Of Foregrounding In Guliver's Travels

Since its publication in 1726, Gulliver's Travels has received a worldwide popularity. Many scholars have done massive researches from various perspectives such as the theme, content, the sarcastic art, aesthetics and so on. However, as far as I know, little criticism is made from stylistics, but only partly involved. The simple and plain style of Gulliver's Travels is really impressive to its readers. However, behind those plain words, there are many foreground linguistic features, which contribute much to the writing techniques and the artistic skills of the work. However, not much stylistic research into this work has been made by far. This paper focuses on the art of foregrounding in Gulliver's Travels by exploring its foregrounded linguistic features at the lexical, syntactical, graphological, semantic, textual levels and the deviations of register in Gulliver's Travels from the perspective of stylistics. The thesis follows basically the three steps of stylistic analysis: description, interpretation, and evaluation.Based on the three steps of stylistic analysis, this thesis discusses some typical stylistic features Gulliver's Travels, such as a good use of Anglo-Saxon words, exact numbers and figures, subordinate clause as a coordinate one, Loose Sentence, punctuation, type of print, a good use of contrast, rhetorical devices such as insinuation, pun, anagram, frequent use of clause connectives, and the deviation in register.The thesis is composed of five chapters. Chapter 1 is a brief introduction of Jonathan Swift and his Gulliver's Travels, as well as the research scope, significance and method of this thesis. Chapter 2 is a literature review. It reviews criticism abroad and in China, especially some critical topics concerning it. Chapter 3 presents the theoretical foundations, which contains: deviation, foregrounding and stylistic analysis. Chapters 4 is the key part in this thesis. It discusses the art of foregrounding in Gulliver's Travels from the levels of lexical, syntactical, graphological, semantic levels, textual and the deviations of register. Chapter 5 is the conclusion of this thesis including summary of it, and significance and some limitations of this study.Through the study, this thesis finds that the foregrounding linguistic features in Gulliver's Travels play an important role in the contribution to its fantasy tales and significant effect of satire. At the lexical level, there is a good use of Anglo-Saxon origin words, which contributes to a plain style, loved by ordinary people; large quantities of exact figures and numbers are used in Gulliver's Travels, which help to create an exaggerated visual effect, bring a lot of fun to the readers. At the syntactical level, Swift has the preference for frequent use of subordinate clause as a coordinate one, it contributes to Swift's style of consummate logical clarity and vivid descriptions; besides, the author has a frequent use of loose sentence, which aims at natural simplicity and directness, so that it helps to make the mysterious story simply to be understood, and easily loved by the readers. At the graphological level, the use of quotation marks, question marks, italics, as well as pictures, help to make the story more convincible, interesting, easier to be understood, and achieve at a significant satirical effect. At the semantic level, a good use of contrast is significant in Gulliver's Travels, which does not help present its readers a colorful and fantastic world but also produce a great ironic effect; besides, there is a successful use of rhetorical devices in Gulliver's Travels, such as insinuations, pun, anagram and so on, which help a lot to achieve an ironic effect. At the textual level, there is a frequent use of clause connectives, it makes Swift's plain and clear style well marked, and helps to create an impression of consummate logical clarity. At last, there is a deviation of formal registers in Gulliver's Travels; it does not only show the reader something new style, arouse their interests, make the story more believable but also makes the irony go home.