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Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Climax, Anticlimax and Suspense in Stylistics

CLIMAX (GRADATION) - This figure of inequality consists in arranging the utterance so that each subsequent component of it increases significance, importance or emotional tension of narration:
There was the boom, then instantly the shriek and burst. I am sorry. I am so very sorry. I am so extremely sorry.

Classification. Gradation which increases emotional tension of the ut¬terance may be called emotional. Emotional gradation is created by syn¬onymic words with emotive meanings: nice - lovely - beautiful - fair - magnificent; surprised - astonished- astounded - struck - petrified - killed (figuratively).

Gradation revealing the quantity of objects may be called quantitative:There were hundreds of houses, thousands of stairs, innumerable kitchens.

ANTICLIMAX - It consists in arranging the utterance so that each subsequent com¬ponent of it decreases significance, importance or emotional tension of narration: If John's eyes fill with tears, you may have no doubt: he has been eating raw onions.

SUSPENSE - a deliberate postponement of the completion of the sentence. The term "suspense" is also used in literary criticism to denote an expectant uncertainty about the outcome of the plot. To hold the reader in suspense means to keep the final solution just out of sight. Detective and adventure stories are examples of suspense fiction. The - theme, that which is known, and the rheme, that which is new, of the sentence are distanced from each other and the new information is withheld, creating the tension of expectation.

Technically, suspense is organized with the help of embedded clauses (homogeneous members) separating the predicate from the subject and introducing less important facts and details first, while the expected information of major importance is reserved till the end of the sentence (utterance).