高英Pub Talk

The Feminine Note in Literature
Metaphor:
When E. M. Forster writes of “the sinister corridor of our age,” we sit up at the vividness of the phrase, the force and even terror in the image.
But if E. M. Forster used this kind of formal and literary language in an ordinary conversation in our living room , we would have every right to ask him to leave the room.
We would never have gong to Australia, or leaped back in time to the Norman Conquest
We would never have talked about Australia, nor would we have traveled back in time and talked about the language barrier existing in England after the Norman Conquest
.
Major works:
Maurice The Longest Journey
Howard’s End
The Life to Come
A Room With A View
A Passage to India Where Angels Fear to Tread
Aspects of the Novel
Even the most educated and literate people use non-standard and informal English in their conversation. Even such kind of people make mistakes in conversation.
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When E. M. Forster writes of “the sinister corridor of our age,” we sit up at the vividness of the phrase, the force and even terror in the image.
Suddenly we become alert and interested , as the phrase “ the sinister corridor of our age” written by E.M Forster is vivid and the image that is created by the metaphor in one’s mind is powerful and even frightening.
Edward Morgan Forster
essayist
English novelist
short story writer
He is known best for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy in early 20thcentury British society.
The distinguished people
Paraphrase
Praise and honor
Other people may celebrate the lofty conversations in which the great grand minds ……in the great salons of 18th century Paris.
His eager interest in dictionaries
Wystan Hugh Auden
Anglo-American poet
greatest writers of the 20th century
His work is noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with moral and political issues, and its variety in tone, form and content
Para16
Carlyle---Thomas Carlyle
Scottish essayist
historian
His works, such as The French Revolution (1837), are characterized by his trenchant (尖锐的) social and political criticism and his complex literary style.
But if E. M. Forster sat in our living room and said, “We are all following each other down the sinister corridor of our age,” we would be justified in asking him to leave.
And continued to say that the only difference between Mme . Deffand’s cook and the supreme chef Brinvilliers is how they treated their cooking..
Para.16-19 Attitude:
Paraphrase
Perhaps it is worth trying to speak it , but it should not be laid down as an edict, and made immune to change from below. Maybe it is worth trying to speak the King ’s English , but people shouldn’t be order to speak it and they should be allowed to make changes in the language.
There is always a great danger, as Carlyle put it , that” words will harden into things for us”
There is always a great danger, as Carlyle put , that we may forget that words are only symbols and take them for things that they are supposed to stand for.
Alliteration:
Even with the most educated and the most literate, the King’s English slips and slides in conversation
Paraphrase
Even with the most educated and the most literate, the King’s English slips and slides in conversation
Para19
Figures of speech
Metonymy:
Other people may celebrate the lofty conversations in which the great minds are supposed to have indulged in the great salons of 18th century Paris, but one suspects that the great minds were gossiping and judging the quality of the food and the wine.
Major works:
Life of Schiller
Sartor Resartus
On Heroes, Hero-Worship the Heroic in History
The French revolution
translation of Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister
Paraphrase
Para18
Figures of speech
Metaphor:
Even with the most educated and the most literate, the King’s English slips and slides in conversation.
MaUltimatum:
a final statement of terms made by one party or another.
Paraphrase
The king’s English is a model—a rich and instructive one—but it ought not to be an ultimatum
Regular meetings of literary and artistic people.
Salon:
And went on to observe that the only difference between her cook and the supreme chef, Brinvilliers , lay in their intentions.
The things we do, the road we travel in this age.
refers to the ugly and frightening world of the 20th century which has indeed been a sinister corridor for mankind to walk down, filled with danger on every side.
The king’s English sets up un excellent standard for us to imitate, because we can gain much information or knowledge by studying it, but people should not be forced to accept it as the only way of speaking English.
Question
What is the attitude of the writer towards “the King’ English”?
Para17
Figures of speech
Metaphor: I have an unending love affair with dictionaries.
1) Not as an edict , can be changed. 2) not ultimatum (dictionaries) 3) slips and slides. (salons of 18th Paris)
Para20
Figures of speech
Metaphor: Otherwise one will bind the conversation; one will not let it flow freely here and there. We would never have gong to Australia, or leaped back in time to the Norman Conquest.