Redefining intimacy: Carver and Conversation (Bramlett and Raabe, 2004)
Conversation and interpersonal relations
Building and sustaining intimacy through little-C conversations
Disproportionate dialogue and things
The interplay of words, silence, and gesture
intimacy in the telling of the story
Carver's short story Intimacy
relationship between ex-husband and ex-wife
unique telling of the story and distorted dialogue = ex-wife dominates dialogue, ex-husband is victim of verbal abuse
detailed knowledge of someone leads to intimacy or lack there of
de/reconstruction
linguistic discourse theory, conversation analysis, and narrative theory.
homodiegetic narrator develops narratological intimacy with unnamed naratee at the same time he speaks with his ex-wife
present conversations vs. past conversations
1 - intertextuality
2 - little-c and big-c conversation
verbal interaction between exes is their little-c = affected by their previous little-c conversations which equals the big-c
if you never meet a person again then the little-c is the big-c
conversation analysis
create and maintain character intimacy
immediate intimacy = little-i and historical intimacy is big-i
the conversation turn = turn-taking
over the years the husband held conversational turn = shows up at her house unannounced
ex-wife is in negative emotional states, however shows empathy, forgiveness, understanding to someone who wronged her
uses dialogue in unexpected ways
some are forced or non-linguistic = estranged relationship
4 years of one-sided conversation dominated by husband
little-c create and sustain their relationship
homodiegetic character narrator
little-c and little-i enrich present intimacy
reflexivity = reciprocal production and reproduction of socially situated language
situation determines the language
assumed intimacy
1 - % of dialogue exceeds any of his other stories
2 - skewed dialogue
wife 15.8 - husband 1
"she says" and "I say"
he participates just enough to keep the conversation going
TRPs = transition-relevance places = where other characters have a chance to talk
husband only speaks when asked about the knife she pulled on him once = conflict keeps story going
scene is not described at all = only hearing
touch = turn taking signal
hem of the wife's dress
verbal, material, and mental process types interplay
recalcitrant narrator
distance between narrator and naratee
free indirect discourse, recipient design
subtle direct discourse closes distance between narrator and naratee
naratee a a character presence
leaves