clarity of the unsaid:

J.D. Salinger's pragmatics

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55028/papeis.v27i54.13291

Keywords:

J.D. Salinger, Theory of relevance, Linguistics, Literature

Abstract

This article shall be about the book Nine Stories, by J.D. Salinger. However, the shortstory A Perfect Day for Bananafish, the first of the nine ones, seems to be the point outside the curb of that unity that holds the book together. For that reason, it will be the chosen as subject of analysis, in an attempt to understand and explain the reason why such dissonance with the whole book. The approach to be taken for this attempt will be the Theory of Relevance, by nature, pragmatic-cognitive. That theory is due to the statements of the philologist Paul Grice, and here it will be arranged according to the assumptions of Deirdre Wilson and Dan Sperber (2005), both anchored on Grice's inferential model. The conclusion of the study is that not only does Salinger make his whole story quite clear, undercovered, by anticipation and concealment of information, but he also does it so that we can search for the relevance contained in his fiction.

References

CHAGAS, Pedro D.; BITTENCOURT, Náira. Sobre as funções e a materialidade linguística da ficção. Letras & Letras, v. 35, n. 1, p. 19-43, 2019.

NAZÁRIO, Maria de Lurdes. Estudo pragmático: a teoria da relevância no processo comunicativo. REVELLI–Revista de Educação, Linguagem e Literatura da UEG-Inhumas, v. 3, p. 2-56, 2011.

SALINGER, J.D. Nove Histórias. São Paulo: Todavia, 2019. Tradução de Caetano W. Galindo.

SPERBER, Dan; WILSON, Deirdre. Teoria da Relevância. Linguagem em (Dis)curso - LemD, Tubarão, v. 5, n. esp., p. 221-268, 2005. Tradução de Fábio José Rauen e Jane Rita Caetano da Silveira.

Published

2024-09-17

Issue

Section

Artigos - Literatura, Estudos Comparados e Interartes

How to Cite

FORGIARINI, Eduardo. clarity of the unsaid:: J.D. Salinger’s pragmatics. Papéis: Revista do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Estudos de Linguagens - UFMS , [S. l.], v. 27, n. 54, p. 32–41, 2024. DOI: 10.55028/papeis.v27i54.13291. Disponível em: https://periodicos.ufms.br/index.php/papeis/article/view/13291. Acesso em: 31 jan. 2026.