“The Rotten Floorboards of His Thoughts”: Mind Style in the Patrick Melrose Novels

Čelhar, Aja (author), Kavalir, Monika (mentor), Šporčič, Anamarija (comentor)

Mind style is a stylistic framework used to describe how consistent patterns in language project a fictional mind. This thesis contributes to mind style research by exploring how literary similes in internally focalized novels reflect the subject’s mechanism of thought. It is argued that simile is a distinct stylistic device, distinguishable from metaphor which can orient perspective towards the reflector by foregrounding their mental associations and so give the reader a glimpse into how fictional minds interpret the world around them. This claim is substantiated with the analysis of Edward St Aubyn’s Patrick Melrose pentalogy (1992–2012), which depicts the toxic mind of an eccentric and eloquent aristocrat and addict traumatized by childhood sexual abuse. The style of the novels is characterized by a profusion of conspicuous and stretched similes which are the defining feature of the protagonist’s mind style. A detailed quantitative and qualitative stylistic analysis demonstrates how the peculiar form and content of Patrick’s similes reflect the cognitive and socio-cultural aspects of his world view skewed by trauma and addiction.

• Language: English
• Keywords: mind style, simile, point of view, cognitive stylistics
• Work type: Master's thesis/paper
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Year: 2022
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-141473
• COBISS.SI-ID: 123636227
• Publication date in RUL: 30.09.2022

ČELHAR, Aja, 2022, “The Rotten Floorboards of His Thoughts”:  Mind Style in the Patrick Melrose Novels [online]. Master’s thesis. [Accessed 11 April 2025]. Retrieved from: https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/IzpisGradiva.php?lang=eng&id=141473

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: “Strohnele podnice njegovih misli”: Miselni slog v romanih o Patricku Melrosu

Abstract

Miselni slog je stilistični pojem, s katerim opišemo, kako ponavljajoči se jezikovni vzorci odražajo miselno delovanje literarne osebe. Magistrsko delo prispeva k preučevanju miselnih slogov in raziskuje, kako literarne primere v pripovedih z notranjo fokalizacijo razkrivajo subjektov miselni mehanizem. Primera je obravnavana kot samostojno slogovno sredstvo, različno od metafore, ki lahko približa pripoved fokalizatorjevem gledišču, saj aktualizira njegove miselne asociacije ter s tem razkrije bralcem, kako dojema svet okoli sebe. Teza je ponazorjena z analizo pentologije o Patricku Melrosu pisatelja Edwarda St Aubyna, ki upodablja toksično mišljenje ekscentričnega in govorniško nadarjenega aristokrata ter zasvojenca, ki zaradi posilstva v otroštvu trpi za travmo. Slog romanov zaznamuje množica izstopajočih in razpotegnjenih primer, ki so posebnost protagonistovega miselnega sloga. Podrobna kvantitativna in kvalitativna stilistična analiza raziskuje, kako se v prepoznavni obliki in vsebini Patrickovih primer odražata kognitivni in družbeni vidik njegovega pogleda na svet, ki je izkrivljen zaradi travme in odvisnosti.

• Keywords: miselni slog, primera, pripovedno gledišče, kognitivna stilistika