| Variety |
Image-building |
Atmosphere and the cultural background |
Scenery and the social setting |
| Topics |
1. appearance (12)2. behavior (4) |
1. literature (11)2. music (19)3. sculpture (2)4. art (3)5. sensorial spheres (1) |
1. city districts (15)2. hotels and restaurants (3)3. clothes and accessories (5)4. cars (3)5. newspapers and magazines (5)6. sport (2) |
| Elements of quoting |
Allusive proper names originating from1. literature2. films3. politics |
allusive proper names designating great masters in literature, art, music, sculpture and names of their creations, perfumery |
allusive proper names designating hotels, restaurants, clothes and accessory brands, car makes, names of newspapers and magazines, names of sports teams |
| Position |
Inside the text |
| Function |
Creating the visual image of the character |
Creating special spiritual aura of the text, accentuating particular inner realm of the character |
Distinguishing the social border between poverty and wealth |
| Examples |
1. Mark et sa fille se trouvaient maintenant dans un bureau dépouillé, aux allures de salle d'interrogatoire. Devant eux, en tailleur-pantalon, une Latino à l'air sévère qui se prenait pour Condoleezza Rice détaillait leurs passeports. [Meanwhile Mark and his daughter found themselves in a shabby office intended to be an interrogation room. In front of them a severe Latino dressed in a trouser suit acting in the manner of Condoleezza Rice scrutinized their passports.] (Musso, Ch.8) |
1. La pièce baignait dans une lumière irréelle et offrait une vue vertigineuse sur le parc. Ici, tout était sobre et dépouillé. Sur une étagère métallique, deux sculptures à la Giacometti semblaient s'élever dans l'espace. [The room flooded by the magic light offered a vertiginous view of the park. Everything was simple and austere here. On the metal shelf there were two sculptures by Giacometti that seemed to aspire high into the air.] (Musso, Ch.3) |
1. Dans son numéro sur les couples les plus en vue de New York, le prestigieux Vanity Fair leur avait consacré un article de quatre pages avec photos [The prestigious “Vanity Fair” devoted to them a four-page article with glamorous photos in the issue on the most celebrated couples of New York] (Musso, Ch. 2). |
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2. Même s'il ne lui a jamais parlé, il connaît de vue l'autre garçon: un élève étrange et solitaire, aux alluresd'extraterrestre. C'est une sorte de Huckleberry Finn, version fin de siècle. Il a les cheveux en pétard, il est maigre, porte des habits sales et trop petits pour sa taille.[Even though he had never spoken to him he knew that boy by sight: a strange and lonely pupil who resembled an extraterrestrial in his manners. This was a Huckleberry Finn of the end of the century with tousled hair, skinny and dressed in dirty clothes too small for his size.] (Musso, Ch. 19) |
2…. tandis qu'au mur, une peinture monochrome de Robert Ryman laissait perplexes ceux qui n'y voyaient qu'un carré blanc. Connor, lui, était fasciné par les infimes variations de la lumière sur la toile.Deviner l'invisible, voir derrière les apparences... [Robert Ryman perplexed those who saw only a white square in the picture. However, Connor was fascinated by the play of light on the canvas. To divine the invisible, to see beyond the appearances…] (Musso, Ch.3) |
2. Le cabinet du Dr Connor McCoy était installé dans l'une des tours de verre du prestigieux Time WarnerCenter, à l'extrémité oust de Central Park [Dr. Connor McCoy’s office was situated in one of the glass towers of the prestigious Time WarnerCenter, in the far west end of Central Park] (Musso, Ch.3). |
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3….dans la salle commune du rez-de-chaussée, les premiers levés se servent un frugal petit déjeuner. C'est la cour des miracles version XXIe siècle: assise à une table, une femme encore jeune mais déjà édentée lape un bol de café; à côté délie, un grand Russe amputé d'un bras émiette maladroitement un biscuit pour le faire durer plus longtemps. […in the common hall the early risers were having a frugal breakfast. That was a veritable picture of “the court of miracles” of the 21st century: at one of the tables there was a woman, still young but already toothless, lapping up her coffee like a cat. Next to her there was a robust Russian amputee who was trying to crumble with his healthy hand a biscuit for it to last him longer.] (Musso, Ch.5) |
3. C'est une de ses profs à l'école qui lui a fait découvrir la littérature et, depuis, c'est devenu son jardin secret, un moyen inattendu pour sortir de la médiocrité dans laquelle la vie l'a engluée. Elle a trouvé un lot de romans d'occasion soldé à deux dollars: “Cent ans de solitude”, “Le Bruit et la Fureur”, “Crime et Châtiment”. [It was thanks to one of her school teachers that she managed to discover the appeal of literature and since then it had become her secret garden, an accidental chance to leave the mediocrity that engulfed her life. She happened to find a wealth of novels sold at a discount at the price of 2 dollars a book: “One hundred years of solitude”, “The sound and the fury”, “Crime and punishment”.] (Musso, Ch.11) |
3. Le quartier de Greenwood dans le South Side de Chicago est une concentration de misère et de violence. Sur des kilomètres s'étend un paysage dévasté: trottoirs défoncés, bâtiments abandonnés, carcasses de voitures carbonisées. [The district of Greenwood in the southern side of Chicago is a concentration of poverty and violence. For kilometers there is nothing but abomination of desolation: broken sidewalks, abandoned buildings, charred car carcasses.] (Musso, Ch. 19) |
