26th Annual Student Research Conference
Edith Wharton's Sleight of Hand - So Slick You Won't Believe Your Eyes: Deitic Shifts Directing Audience Attention in The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence
Kathryn J. McClain♦
Dr. Alanna Preussner, Faculty Mentor
Both commonly and intentionally, Edith Wharton exploits her ability to alter perception in her novels, playing with multiple character perspectives and large jumps in time. For my final paper, I will be analyzing Wharton's literary choices concerning time, arrangement, and speaker in two of her greatest novels: The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence. More specifically, I will be analyzing the text through Peter Stockwell's deictic shift theory and fully realizing how these shifts in Wharton's writing of time, arrangement, and speaker allow the reader to move through her plotlines and understand her characters.
Keywords: Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth, The Age of Innocence, Peter Stockwell, Deictic Shift Theory
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 110-5
Location: VH 1320
Time: 9:00