Novels in which language is a character

[Oomoo]

I have an interest in novels which combine various styles or manipulate language to some effect, like works by Joyce, Pynchon, Faulkner or some Nabokov (Virginia Woolf does not fit in this category; she is one of my favorite novelists, but even in her most experimental, "The Waves", has very little of that). I suppose only 20th century writers do things like that, but there are some traces even in Anna Karenina (very different tones for different characters, if you'll notice).

Thanks!

[AuntShecky]

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Orwell's 1984 which shows up in the forum so much it's
almost a member!

Anything by Nabokov

[liberal viewer]

And of course, the great Sam Beckett. There is a Mexican writer who tried something similar: Salvador Elizondo, check him out.

[Etienne]

I'm not sure about calling the language a character... i don't think it makes sense. But anyways in french, undoubtedly, Boris Vian.


I suppose only 20th century writers do things like that, but there are some traces even in Anna Karenina (very different tones for different characters, if you'll notice).

This is called polyphonism in technical terms. I don't think Anna Karenina is an experimentation in the language... and especially that Dostoevsky has done it much more.

[JBI]

Marcel Proust I would argue fits somewhere in there.

[Oomoo]

I agree that language as a character is somewhat inaccurate. I mean that language plays a major role in the novel, like in second half of Ulysses.

In my version of Anna Karenina (Wordsworth) different episodes certainly have different tones. Karenin, most notably, has an extremely annoying, scientific style.

I am a huge Dostoevsky fan, but his prose always seemed somewhat rushed to me. Can you give a few examples for his experimentation with language?

[Etienne]

I am a huge Dostoevsky fan, but his prose always seemed somewhat rushed to me. Can you give a few examples for his experimentation with language?

I am not saying he is experimenting with language, but that he is a much better example of polyphonism, in my opinion. Not only in the way his characters express themselves but in their beliefs and each are as credible in their character.

Also I believe Tolstoy is too much didactic to be said to experiment with language, personally. But don't get me wrong on my opinion on him, I believe he embodies the perfection of the prose and is one of my favorite authors.

[Oomoo]

I don't think Tolstoy is didactic. He actually criticized himself, later in life, for not being moralistic.

I understand what you're saying about Dostoevsky and I agree.

[stlukesguild]

You seem to be discussing Metafictions... or fictions in which the very elements of fiction and language are called into question... or confronted as a major element of the work. Examples of such might include Don Quixote, Tristam Shandy, the works of Borges, Kafka, Cortazar, etc... For an example that specifically deals with the element of language I would definitely check out Georges Perec's A Void if you haven't already.

[Etienne]

For an example that specifically deals with the element of language I would definitely check out Georges Perec's A Void if you haven't already.

Wow, don't tell me this is the translation of "La disparition"??? I never such a book could be translatable? Wow...

[mayneverhave]

simply put, Finnegans Wake

[Oomoo]

A Void is a bad example. I've not read it, but it probably has no verbs just for having no verbs. If the novel was about paralysis or something, it would make sense. See what I mean?

I plan to read Finnegans Wake in the future, but it probably requires about a year of serious reading...

[RichardHresko]

Ulysses by Joyce is arguably a better example of language as a character than Finnegan's Wake, given how he uses different styles of writing to change the perspective of the novel.

Pale Fire is the best Nabokov example of language as a character, given the issue is the poem.

The Enderby novels by Burgess. I agree with the inclusion of A Clockwork Orange.

On a lighter note, how about Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

Borges' short stories should get a mention, if we allow for short stories.

[Etienne]

A Void is a bad example. I've not read it, but it probably has no verbs just for having no verbs. If the novel was about paralysis or something, it would make sense. See what I mean?

I plan to read Finnegans Wake in the future, but it probably requires about a year of serious reading...

It doesn't have letter "e". But it's not just a story that doesn't have "e", read it before judging.

[J.D.]

I'd say As I Lay Dying. The language is characteristic of the people, yes, but it is also quite distinct--and in some ways the book is about the ways language fails us.

[stlukesguild]

It doesn't have letter "e". But it's not just a story that doesn't have "e", read it before judging.

The novel is something of a parody of a mystery in which the character Anton Vowel (a vowel) is missing. The entire book avoids the use of a single letter "E". The book includes marvelous pastiches of classic poems by Keats, Poe, Shelley, etc... all without the letter "E". I don't think it's a classic on the level of Ulysses (but then again, few books are) but it is fun... witty...

[stlukesguild]

Wow, don't tell me this is the translation of "La disparition"??? I never such a book could be translatable? Wow...

Surely Lewis Carroll and James Joyce have been translated into French...? Then why not Perec and Mallarme into English?:)

[Etienne]

I do think Lewis Carroll or Joyce would more easily translatable than La disparition, unless you deviate a lot from the original text...

[kratsayra]

A different way of thinking about language as a character is novels where the language characters use and how language is used in general is constantly highlighted. I suppose this isn't quite what you are talking about.

But you might consider thinking about Ngugi wa Thiong'o's novels, especially works like Devil on the Cross and Matigari. Because Ngugi is concerned with what language people speak and write in - English, Gikuyu, or Swahili - language is constantly at issue in his texts. And he often uses language in interesting ways (proverbs, repetition, references to oral forms) to highlight the tensions and implications that surround it.

There are tons of other authors from across Africa that have similar concerns. But Ngugi is the most well-known, and he also is particularly vocal about these issues.

[stlukesguild]

I do think Lewis Carroll or Joyce would more easily translatable than La disparition, unless you deviate a lot from the original text...

I do agree that it must have been a formidable undertaking... the challenge always being that not only must the translator find an equivalent for what is being said in French... but he must find an equivalent that avoids what is the most common letter in English as well as French. With Joyce... and I was thinking especially of Finnegan's Wake... the challenge would be to invent an equivalent for the incredibly complex wordplay... the deconstruction and reconstruction of words... language... and the multiple layers of allusions to older writers, literary styles, etc... In this sense it would seem that this work is almost closer to poetry than prose... with each word being weighed far closer. Of course... sometimes it may be just the perfect, simple lyric that is most difficult to "translate" as no translation can capture the perfection of each and every word within the perfection of the structure as a whole.

[Etienne]

Yes perhaps in Finnegan's Wake, I've only read the first page of the translation at a bookstore. I remember for Ulysses there was like 20 people that worked on the translation haha.

[Oomoo]

It doesn't have letter "e". But it's not just a story that doesn't have "e", read it before judging.
I'm not saying it's bad, I'm just saying that the lack of "e" is probably a gimmick. You can rewrite Moby Dick without the letter "e", and it would still be a gimmick

[Etienne]

But that's what I'm trying to tell you, it's not just that. Why don't you read it or read about it before making a judgment?

[PeterL]

Although he isn't part of the canon, Lovecraft used language more effectively than almost any other writer. Hie used it not just in characterization but in setting the scene and tone. Poe did the same to a lesser degree.

[ClickForth]

okokok

[rgdmalaysia]

Joyce and Burgess are the two obvious answers.

But one book I recently re-read where language is extremely important is "Absolute Beginners" by Colin MacInnes....Best creation and use of slang I've ever read and also using that to explain the culture in swinging London in which the characters operate.

[aeroport]

I have an interest in novels which combine various styles or manipulate language to some effect, like works by Joyce, Pynchon, Faulkner or some Nabokov (Virginia Woolf does not fit in this category; she is one of my favorite novelists, but even in her most experimental, "The Waves", has very little of that). I suppose only 20th century writers do things like that, but there are some traces even in Anna Karenina (very different tones for different characters, if you'll notice).

Thanks!

You could probably say this about a lot of Shakespeare as well. However, the language has changed so much since then that much of this goes unnoticed. Take, for instance, Romeo's addressing Juliet on their first meeting with the informal "thee" and "thou", while she sticks to the formal "you" - the appropriate appelation for strangers - highlighting Romeo's "cheekiness", so to speak. Little things like this can be found throughout the Plays. However, I'm not sure this is exactly what you're looking for...
That's my contribution, anyway.