An Analysis Of Foregrounding Features In Alice Munro’s Runaway

Foregrounding theory is one of the most important theories and also the most popular frontier theories in stylistics nowadays. Foregrounding, sometimes called “stand out”, refers to the deliberate deviation from normal usage of language in literary works. This notion originally came from a basic theory about artistic exchange, in which an art with uniqueness always deviates from the general expectation to the art in the society they belong to. For instance, the artistic beauty of a painting depends neither on the similarity of the painting to the external scene it displays, nor on the vividly copy of nature like photos, but on the deviation from the photographic accuracy of external nature. The application of foregrounding in stylistics firstly appeared in Russian formalism in last century, later developed by the research of Prague scholars and other linguists such as Leech and Harlliday, and gradually came to a mature theory. Deviation and overregularity are the two main ways to achieve foregrounding. Foregrounding theory has great value and significance in the appreciation and research of literal works.Alice Munro, one of the most distinguished female Canadian writers in the world, is famous for her short stories. Since girlhood, she has written more than a hundred short stories, which have widely won the acclaim from readers and critics both at home and abroad. During her career, she has been the recipient of many awards and prizes, including three Canada’s Governor General’s Literary Awards, two of Giller Prizes and the National Book Critics Circle Awards. In 2013, because of her great literary achievement, Munro was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 82. The Swedish Academy praised her as the “master of modern short stories” in the presentation speech. Runaway, published in 2004, consists of eight short stories, namely Runaway, Chance, Soon, Silence, Passion, Trespasses, Tricks and Powers. Actually it is about several ordinary small town girls. They are turned into thrilling miracles in Alice Munro’s works.The thesis consists of the introduction, the main body and the conclusion parts. The main contents are as follows:The first part is introduction which firstly presents the former studies on foregrounding theory. Since foregrounding was brought into literature, it has formed a complete system of a stylistic branch by the development of linguistics, psychologists and literary critics of past dynasties. Meanwhile, this part displays a brief literature review of Alice Munro and her masterpiece Runaway and the innovative purpose of the work from the perspective of foregrounding.The second part is the main body, which is divided into three chapters.Chapter I briefly explains the history of foregrounding, ways to achieve foregrounding, and its significance and function in literary criticism. The notion of foregrounding originally came from Russion formalism, later the linguist Mukarosky and the Prague school scholars clarified it, and finally it was developed and formed by some British stylists such as Leech and Halliday. Foregrounding as a complete concept was firstly put forward by Mukarosky. Deviation and overregularity are two main ways to achieve foregrounding. Foregrounding which stands out from the background creates the artistry and values in the analysis of literary works.Chapter II analyzes the deviation in Runaway. Deviation, also called variation, refers to the linguistic elements violating the norms of language usage and the formal grammar usage. This chapter analyses the examples in Runaway from the angle of deviation. Every word, every sentence and even every punctuation is considered carefully and thoughtfully by Alice Munro in Runaway. This chapter is divided into six sections, discussing the examples of lexical deviation, grammatical deviation, phonologicdeal deviation, graphological deviation, semantic deviation, and dialectical deviation in Runaway. Lexical deviation in Runaway is basically in the form of loanword and conversion, which ensure the words of the work more flexible and vivid. Unusual clause theme is the main way to achieve grammatical deviation. By setting stressed unit in the initial position of a sentence, readers may pay more attention to this part and understand the main idea of these stories better. As for phonological deviation, Munro primarily adapts omission and mispronunciation. Even though they violate the rules of phonology, they are also more appropriate to the character and state of her characteristics, thus helping reduce the distance between readers and characteristics. Shape of text, type of print and punctuation are main methods of graphological deviation in Runaway. These specially ordered usage of shape, capitalization, italics and punctuation contributes to the delivery of Munro’s emotion and ideas, acting as the very important part of the work. Dialectal deviation is applied to some individual characteristics, for realizing the lifelikeness of them. The most frequently used deviation in Runaway is semantic deviation, which includes over twenty figures of speech, such as simile, metaphor, personification and analogy. The adaption of deviation in Runaway strengthens its aesthetic value and artistic value, helps readers appreciate and understand Munro’s writing style better as well.Chapter III analyses the overregularity in Runaway. Overregularity refers to the repeated and excessive usage of a certain linguistic element. Although it doesn’t violate any linguistic rules, it appears in higher or lower frequency, in order to stand out and attract attention. This chapter is divided into two sections, in which discusses the overregularity in Runaway from phonological level and syntactic level in detail. Therefore, readers may comprehend the meaning of the work and ideas of the writer better. Overregularity at phonological level is mostly applied to poetry analysis. However, it is also utilized in Runaway for several times, including alliteration, assonance and consonance. There are repetition, parallelism, antithesis and climax at the level of lexical deviation. Alice Munro is good at expressing emotions by phonological rhyme and syntactic parallelism in Runaway.The last part is conclusion, which sums up this research and presents the core opinions of this thesis. The innovative analysis of foregrounding features in Alice Munro’s Runaway offers a new perspective and new basis for later reading and studying of Alice Munro’s works. Besides, the study on deviation and overregularity in short stories is also helpful to improve the efficiency of foreign language learning and teaching, thus contributing to promote the application of foregrounding in literary works. At last, the limitation in this thesis is pointed out.