Rhetorical Styles And Humors In The Writing of David Quammen_英语论文

摘要

在美国自然写作作家大卫·奎曼的作品中，他将科学变的可理解且与生活相关，同时又保证了科学的准确性。奎曼因此而在读者中获得声誉。他在写作上的成功，一部分是通过他使用的修辞手法实现的，我将这种手法称为错误指示。他将科学与文学相融合，创造了他的写作特点。他通过他的作品来帮助大众读者了解和感受自然。仅有少数学者研究了自然写作中修辞手法的运用，所以这一课题值得进行深入探讨与研究。奎曼也在他的作品中运用幽默来吸引读者，鼓励读者思考并作出反馈。奎曼将自己定位为教育者，他通过他的作品向大众读者介绍科学与自然。总而言之，错误指示与幽默帮助奎曼在作品中拉近的读者与科学间的距离，帮助读者更好地理解和感悟自然。

关键词:  奎曼  自然写作  修辞技巧  错误指示 幽默

Abstract

American nature writer David Quammen gained a reputation with readers for making natural science understandable and relevant and with scientists for still getting the science right. He achieves this, in part, by using a rhetorical strategy I’m calling misdirection. He blends the scientific and the literary, creating a genre that helps non-specialist readers enjoy coming to understand the natural world. Only a few scholars have worked on the rhetorical techniques in nature writing, and thus the use of rhetorical techniques needs to be more fully investigated. Quammen also uses humor to grab his readers’ attention and encourage them to think about and interact with the natural world. Quammen introduces scientific concepts, and he serves as an educator to teach readers to care about nature. In all, humor and misdirection help Quammen narrow the gap between readers and science, attracting non-specialist readers to become thoughtfully involved with the natural world. 

Keywords:  Quammen  nature writing  rhetorical technique  misdirection  humor

Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 David Quammen and His Work 1

1.2 Literature Review 2

1.3 Theoretical Framework 3

1.4 Thesis Structure 6

2 The Application of Misdirection and Humors 6

2.1 Misdirection in "The Face of A Spider" 6

2.2 Misdirection in "Drinking the Dresert Juice " 10

2.3 Misdirection in "The Flight of Iguana" 12

2.3 Humors in Quammen's Work 14

3 The Founction of Misdiretion and Humors 17

3.1 Quammen's Trigger 17

3.2 Quammen's Attraction 20

3.3 Quammen's Humors 22

Conclusion 24

Acknowledgements 26

References 27