Free indirect discourse

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Monika Fludernik (Universität Freiburg)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.1: German-language Writing and Culture: Germany, 500-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

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Literary Concept
Poetic/ rhetorical term

Dates

Date of occurrence 1780

Places

Germany (Location)
United Kingdom (Location)

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Free indirect discourse (FID) can be defined as a

mode of speech and thought representation

which relies on syntactic, lexical and pragmatic features. On the syntactic level, passages of FID are constituted by non-subordination and (if applicable) temporal shifting in accordance with the basic tense of the report frame.

Orlando WALKED through the house with his elk hounds following and FELT content. He had matter now, he THOUGHT, to fill out his peroration. Perhaps it WOULD be well to begin the speech all over again. (Virginia Woolf, Orlando)

Orlando WALKED through the house with his elk hounds following and FELT content. He

had

matter

now

, he THOUGHT, to fill out his peroration.

Perhaps

it WOULD be well to begin the speech all over again. (Virginia Woolf,

Orlando

)

Since the

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799 words

Citation: Fludernik, Monika. "Free indirect discourse". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 October 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=444, accessed 24 November 2024.]

Free indirect discourse

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