Enthymema XXIII 2019 the Sentence Is Most Important: Styles of Engagement in William T. Vollmann's Fictions
Enthymema XXIII 2019 The Sentence Is Most Important: Styles of Engagement in William T. Vollmann’s Fictions Christopher K. Coffman Boston University Abstract – William T. Vollmann frequently asserts that his ideal reader will appreci- ate the functionality and beauty of his sentences. This article begins by taking such claims seriously, and draws on both literary and rhetorical stylistics to explore some of the many ways that his texts answer to his intention to find “the right sentence for the right job.” In particular, this article argues that Vollmann’s stylistic decisions are most notable when they most directly satisfy his effort to produce texts that fos- ter empathetic knowledge, serve truth, resist abusive power, and encourage charita- ble action. Extended close analyses of passages from an early and from a mid-ca- reer text (The Rainbow Stories and Europe Central) illustrate Vollmann’s con- sistency across two decades of his career regarding choices in the areas of figura- tion (including schemes and tropes of comparison, repetition, balance, naming, and amplification), grammar, deixis, allusion, and other compositional strategies. Partic- ular attention is paid to passages that display the stylistic mechanisms underlying Vollmann’s negotiation of his texts’ moral qualities, including both the moral con- tent of the worlds represented in the texts, and the moral responsibility the texts bear with regard to their audience. The results of my analyses demonstrate that Vollmann typically prioritizes openness, critique, and dialogue not only in terms of incident and character, but also on the scale of the phrase, clause, and sentence. Ultimately, this article shows how Vollmann’s sentences serve his declared inten- tions and allow readers to recognize compatibilities between Vollmann’s works and the characteristic features of post-postmodernist writing in general.
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