A Stylistic Study On The Foregrounding Features In Vanity Fair

With the theory of foregrounding in stylistics as the theoretical foundation, this thesisaims to investigate Thackeray’s novel Vanity Fair from the perspective of foregroundingdiscussion. The study intends to explore how to combine linguistic theories with literaryappreciation so as to obtain a more objective understanding of literary works, and improveour ability of interpreting and analyzing literary works. Besides, this research endeavors totest the feasibility of applying foregrounding theory to literary analysis, in order that it canpromote the perfection and development of foregrounding theory.Thackeray is a famous critical realist writer in England in the 19thcentury, and VanityFair is one of his masterpieces, which is still a famous novel at present. The novel portraystwo contrasting but inter-linked female characters---Rebecca Sharp and Amelia Sedley.Rebecca was born in a poor family. Due to the living environment, she determined to changeher fate and thus made wealth and social status the sole purpose of her life. Thus, she waswilling to do anything and made use of anybody, even her husband and child, to reach heraim. Her best friend in school, Amelia grew up in a rich family. Amelia was gentle, innocentand indulges herself into blind love. In a realistic way, this novel displays the panorama of thearistocratic English society of the early 19thcentury, especially reveals the hypocritical andmoney-orientated value. Till now there are many researches about this great work. However,most of the researches are done from the literary aspect. Few works are carried out from theaspect of linguistics.The concept of“foregrounding”comes from Russian Formalism, which refers to theunusual linguistic usage in order to emphasize a certain element of a text. The theory of“foregrounding”was first put forward by Jan Mukarovsky. According to Mukarovsky, poeticlanguage is not one kind of standard language, but they are close in relation. Standardlanguage forms the background of poetic language. Linguistic foregrounding is the violationof standard linguistic rules so that poetic language becomes possible.With the foregrounding theory in stylistics as its theoretical framework, the present thesis aims to describe, interpret and appreciate Vanity Fair from lexical level, grammaticallevel, semantic level, and speech and thought presentation. Through this analysis, the authorhopes that readers can get a better understanding and appreciation of William MakepeaceThackeray’s masterpiece Vanity Fair. The research finds out that in Vanity Fair, lots offoregrounded expressions are employed, which greatly help to present various characters ofthe novel, and reveal the hypocritical quality of the capitalist society. The study also showsthat foregrounding features has played an important role in expressing the thematic meaningand aesthetic value of the novel. Besides, this study demonstrates the feasibility of employinglinguistic theories in interpreting literary work. The research holds that the use of relevantlinguistic theories in literary analysis and exploration can deepen the discourse themeunderstanding, broaden the comprehension and appreciation of literary works, as well asexpand the application of linguistic theory, and thus contribute to the development oflinguistic theory. Meanwhile, it is advisable to employ related linguistic theories to literatureteaching.