ARTISTIC DETAIL

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 998.

A. Analysing the Author's Style

Part I. Analysis and Discussion

AFTER READING

Toni Morrison has been applauded for “writing prose with the lustre of poetry.” Her writing is always described as lyrical and picturesque. In a released statement the Nobel Prize Committee of the Swedish Academy in 1993 awarded the prize to Morrison “who in novels characterised by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality.” To a great extent her literary distinction is achieved by the masterly usage of artistic details that create bright images in the author's texts. With the help of seemingly inconsiderable details extracted from the visual image of the phenomenon she brilliantly reconstructs it in the text.

Before you begin to work on this section, study the notion of artistic detail; be ready to provide its detailed explanation.

Artistic details are explicit characteristics of the objective reality in a literary text. Talented writers usually choose out plain, inconspicuous details but foreground them masterfully to create bright images. As far as artistic details are not implicit, on the contrary they are objective and explicit, we can juxtapose them with similar visual effects. For example, a simple black spot can be a part of a complex visual image.

The pictures below illustrate how a little mark on the face can substantially influence the image perception. In the right picture there is a very expensive doll made by Jan McLean; in the left one there is the same doll but the mark is erased. The great power of face mark has been recognized both in the past and in the present. No wonder that Jan McLean produces some of his dolls with a mark on the face.

In this case the mark as a visual detail fulfils the function of artistic accentuation. It is doubtful that someone will seriously state that the most important feature of the doll's face is the beauty spot above the upper lip. Nevertheless, the artistic accentuation can be worthwhile as it is. In other words, it can draw our attention not to something important, but change the perception of the whole image by its own.

The popularity of the artistic detail among writers stems from its potential force to enhance the perception of the reader, to stimulate the creativity, to give rise to the associative imagination. The very existence of the notion is explained by the inability to capture some phenomenon in all its completeness and by the consequent need to render the perceived part so that the reader develops the idea of the phenomenon as a whole.

In literary text analysis the artistic detail is often identified with metonymy, namely with one of its kinds, which is based on the relationship between the part and the whole – synecdoche. The reason for this is the external similarity between them: both synecdoche and artistic detail represent the big through the small, the whole through the part. However, the linguistic and functional nature of these phenomena is different. Synecdoche is the substitution of the name of the whole by the name of its part, when artistic details use the direct meaning of the word. To represent the whole by synecdoche a remarkable feature that attracts attention is used, and its basic purpose is the creation of image with the general economy of expressive means. In the artistic detail, however, an inconspicuous feature is used, emphasising the internal rather than external connection between the described phenomena. Therefore, it is not focused upon, it is reported incidentally, like in passing, still the attentive reader is supposed to see the whole picture of reality.

According to their functions we distinguish the following kinds of artistic details:

· depicting details (create the visual image of nature and appearance);

· characterological details (reveal the personages' psychological qualities, traits and habits);

· authenticity details(bring the reader to believe in real existence of the described things and events: names of countries, streets, titles, dates, etc.).

· implicit details(reveal inner qualities of the characters and phenomena presented in the text through the depiction of their external features).

The most frequent type of artistic details applied by Toni Morrison in her fiction is the depicting detail which is mostly intended to create visual images. It is often a blend of depiction and characterisation which along with mere visualising the personage reveals their psychological qualities. Any depicting detail is viewed as a sign of succinct, economical style, not so much in the aspect of quantity (the number of words used), but predominantly from the point of view of its quality – the efficiency of its impact on the reader. Technically, depicting details preserve the means of expression; make up the whole image by foregrounding its minor, insignificant feature. These verbal units make the reader enter into creative cooperation, completing the picture slightly outlined by the author. Thus, the detail of depiction is a strong signal of imagery; it awakens in the reader not only the empathy with the author, but also his/her own creative aspirations. Without realisation of the fact that the whole is assembled in the reader's mind on the basis of its details, deliberately chosen by the writer, the reader has the impression of independence from the author's opinion. For all these reasons depicting details are significant and powerful components of the artistic system of the text, actualising a number of textual categories essential for the process of interpretation.

In the descriptive passages of the novel Jazz readers can trace a number of depicting details that represent a multifaceted and highly elaborate image of the City. Look through Text 1 and pick out the scattered segments reconstructing the image of New York in the 1920s. Are all, most or none of these elements depicting details?

Anthropocentrism as a principal category of our creative imagination makes it impossible to reassemble the image of space apart from the human component inhabiting it. Pay special attention to details depicting men and women who come to settle in New York and become urbanised.