This book analyses and describes Speech and Thought Presentation (S&TP) in French from a broad theoretical perspective, building bridges between linguistic, stylistic and narratological frameworks that have until now been developed separately. It combines the French théorie de l'énonciation and different Anglo-Saxon approaches of reported discourse into a harmonious whole, in order to create a new and exciting paradigm for our conception of S&TP strategies. Basing its findings on actual corpora and going beyond the canonical categories of reported discourse, it shows that the study of S&TP strategies is essential to our understanding of phenomena as diverse as the evolution and categorization of literary genres, the production and staging of 'orality' in literature, the various conceptualizations of the notion of 'Truth' in fiction and non-fiction, the expression of points of view in narrative, the structuring of rhetorical strategies and the construction of the 'Self' versus the representation of the 'Other' in discourse.

Table of contents

Foreword xi–xiv Introduction 1–16 Part I. Concepts Introduction 17 1. Enunciation Theory and S&TP 19–38 2. What is 'reported discourse'? 39–83 3. To the limits of reportability 85–130 Part II. Strategies 1. Contemporary spoken French 133–177 2. Medieval literature 179–223 3. Ninetieth and twentieth-century literature 225–282 4. Contemporary written press 283–320 Conclusion 321–326 References 327–347 Appendix 1: Corpus of Contemporary Spoken French 349–351 Appendix 2: Corpus of Medieval French Literature 353–354 Appendix 3: Corpus of Contemporary French Literature 355 Appendix 4: Corpus of Contemporary Written French Press 357 Author Index 359–363 Subject Index 365–379