On Features of the Syntax of Literary Style

Syntax as Means of Portrayal in Short Stories of Yusuf Idris

Abstract

From the point of view of syntactic analysis, the main features of texts belong­ing to literary style are the unlimited freedom and absence of rules which in other functional styles dictate the characteristic use of syntactic patterns and structures, as well as means of text cohesion. That is why it is difficult to discuss the specific features of the syntax of literary style in general. Instead, it is possible to analyze the use of syntax as an element of style of individual authors, literary movements or genres.

However, it is not the syntactic features that could be analyzed as building blocks of unique, homogenous style of Yusuf Idris that served as motivation for writing of this paper. Quite the contrary, the paper draws attention to markedly different syntactic devices used by this writer in different short stories. The central focus of the paper is the analysis of these syntactic devices in several short stories of Yusuf Idris, which aims to show that the use of syntax therein is not simply means or form used by the writer to convey the content of the story. Actually, this syntactic warp and woof of the story, packed with various syntactic figures, not only works together with the story content and tells one part of it but often speaks louder than words, forming unique narrative devices.