Point of View in American Realistic Fiction

FAIN: FT-13937-78

Janet H. McKay
University of Maryland, College Park (College Park, MD 20742-5141)

Study will expand an inquiry into the nature of point of view as a linguistic variable, using literature of the American realistic period as a database. The purpose of the inquiry is two-fold: l) to develop a theoretical frame-work for the explication of point of view in all language contexts; and 2) to apply that theory to the analysis of point of view in three major works of American realistic fiction. Works to be analyzed are, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The Rise of Silas Lapham, and The Bostonians.