Literary Pragmatic Analysis Of The Lesson

When pragmatics combines with literary studies, a new interdisciplinary field comes intoexistence, i.e. literary pragmatics. It treats literary texts as communicative or dynamic discourserather than abstract or static texts and holds that the reading of literary texts is a multivariateactivity in which writers, readers, texts, contexts and many other elements must be taken intoconsideration. Therefore it proves to be a more powerful tool in the study of literary works.Hence, with an attempt to perceive the absurd nature of The Lesson by Eugene Ionesco, aliterary pragmatic study of dramatic texts is approached in this thesis.After some theoretical preliminaries concerning literary pragmatics and drama to illustratethe feasibility and appropriateness of adopting a literary pragmatic approach to the study ofdramatic texts, the thesis introduces the theoretical framework in which the detailed analysis ofthe drama is carried out. The literary pragmatic exploration of the drama is based on Short’scommunication model of dramatic discourse for the dramatic communication takes place notonly between characters through character dialogues on the micro level but between theplaywright and his readers through stage directions on the macro level as well. Deixis andpoliteness principle help to account for the writer-reader relationship and thecharacter-character relationship on both levels of communication.After analysis, the thesis finds that on a macro level, the main purpose of the playwright isto conquer his readers. He has shortened the distance between himself and the readers with hischoice of personal pronouns and hedges, as well as his adherence to Leech’s PolitenessPrinciple. On a micro level, by the deviated use of personal pronouns and vocatives, theplaywright constructs a bizarre triangular character relationship, which mainly serves to revealthe absurdity of this play. The present study verifies that the pragmatic theories are applicableto the analysis of dramatic texts, and that the absurdity of the play is largely achieved throughthe employment of these pragmatic devices, particularly in bringing out the bizarre relations ofcharacters and in perceiving the unexpected disastrous ending of the play.It is hoped that the literary pragmatic approach to Ionesco’s The Lesson may contribute toa better appreciation of this classic absurd drama and may shed light on dramatic criticismtheories and be useful to the teaching and learning of drama in literature field.