“I can tell the difference between fiction and reality”

Abstract

This article approaches fictionality as a set of semiotic strategies prototypically associated with fictional forms of storytelling (Hatavara & Mildorf, 2017b). Whilst these strategies are strongly associated with fiction, they might also be used in non-fictional and ontologically ambivalent contexts to create ‘cross-fictional’ rhetorical effects. We focus on the representation of thought and consciousness. Using the concept of ‘mind style’ (Fowler, 1977, 1996; Leech & Short, 1981; Semino, 2007), we investigate the linguistic representation of the internal monologue of British Prime Minister, Theresa May, in a satirical newspaper article. The stylistic analysis of the PM’s mind style facilitates an account of the elaborate and nuanced mixing of May and the author’s ideological perspectives throughout the piece. We argue that this cross-fictional, stylistic approach better accounts for the satirical effects of fictionality in the text than those placing a premium on authorial intention and the invented nature of the narrative discourse.

The year’s work in stylistics 2019

“…Mason (2019b) applies figure-ground analysis to so-called false flag narratives, constructed as a response to news stories believed to be false, demonstrating how salient elements of a text are used to construct fiction from fact. Browse and Hatavara (2019) address semiotic strategies typically associated with fiction in a mind style analysis of the ambivalent genre of political satire. The analysis illustrates the mixing of ideologies of the satirist and the satirised in this type of cross-fictional text.…”

Exploration of Civics Teaching Mode in Colleges and Universities Relying on Digital Classroom Platforms

“…We should attach great importance to the Civic Teaching process of relevant issues, make full use of modern information technology, and build a new Civic Teaching system. We should attach great importance to the problems arising in the process of Civics teaching, and make full use of modern information technology to build a new Civics classroom teaching system [6][7][8]. We should be firm in our belief in the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics, to lay a foundation for their future life and study so that they can be better engaged in their future life.…”