Cultura Popular Norte-Americana
quarta-feira, 28 de setembro de 2016
Homework for October 10 - "The Balloon Hoax" by Edgar Allan Poe
The "Balloon Hoax" presents two narrative instances. Characterize the subject of enunciation of each, and point out the most relevant elements of style and tone in their "voice". Alternatively or complementarily, identify marks of sensationalist prose in the text.
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In "The Balloon Hoax", there are two narrative instances. In the first narrative instance, the subject of enunciation is Poe, or Poe's journalistic alias; Poe's tone, though admiring and awestruck in the begining and in the end of the narrative ("a detailed account of this most extraordinary voyage" - page 1069, "This is unquestionably the most stupendous, the most interesting, and the most important undertaking" - page 1082), is mostly neutral and rational, as well as scientifically thorough - Poe spends most of his narrative analyzing in detail the technicalities of this sort of endeavour.
ResponderEliminarThe second narrative instance is the "Journal", written by Mr. Mason, with additions from Mr. Ainsworth. The subjects of enunciation of this narrative instance, being the "main characters" of this bold endeavour, have a much more lively and enthusiastic tone, with Mr. Mason masterfully building up suspense ("we were rapidly approaching the mountains (...) we were all now anxious to test the efficiency of the rudder and screw (...) hardly, however, had we done with our rejoicings, when an unforeseen accident occured" - pages 1076-77) and Mr. Ainsworth making grandiose, larger-than-life statements about their adventure ("I ask not success for mere safety to my insignificant person, but for the sake of human knowledge and - for the vastness of triumph" - page 1078).
(To begin with, I should say that with the given image I at first couldn't find two narrative instances, It was only after taking a look at the whole newspaper story that I was able to answer the question. )
ResponderEliminar"The Balloon Hoax" is a newspaper story that appeared in the New York Sun in 1844. The article presents two narrative instances: On the one hand it is written in a very scientific and serious tone. The writer uses realistic elements such as very detailed information on the balloon's design and system as well as use of actual participants to convince his readers that his story really happened. Someone who isn't a specialist on air navigation would easily believe it( and many people believed it actually).
On the other hand there is a very triumphant and at the same time amazed tone from the journal which is absoulutely comprehensible. The way the voyage is described ("the most important undertaking ever accomplished by man") makes the story even more believable because at that time such an accomplishment would really have been a major achievement of mankind.
I believe that it is precisely this usage of two different voices that made his story a phenomenon.
The Balloon Hoax divide-se em duas partes que se diferenciam pelo tipo narrativo e pelo sujeito de cada uma.
ResponderEliminarA primeira dessas partes consiste numa notícia; o texto é de carácter informativo e apesar de no início existirem algumas marcas de entusiasmo ("Astounding News" - pág. 1068; "(…)this most extraordinary voyage(…)" - pág. 1069) estas vão-se esbatendo no decorrer do artigo, que se torna mais objectivo. O 'autor' assume então uma certa neutralidade.
Na segunda parte, o texto passa a ser composto por vários relatos dos viajantes. Tratando-se de narrativas de experiências próprias, existe uma grande tendência para a expressão de emoções e opiniões/sensações e para o transporte do espectador, o máximo possível, para a experiência em questão juntamente com as emoções que lhe estão subjacentes: é exemplo o deslumbramento de Mr. Ainsworth (págs. 1078-1079).
The Balloon Hoax is divided into two different parts. In the first part, the narrator writes in the first person plural. The language used is descriptive and journalistic, and resembles a review or a critique as well as a news article- I say this because the narrator introduces some personal remarks, such as “(…) we are indebted to Mr. Charles Green.”
ResponderEliminarThe language used in this first part is also technical and scientific. Besides describing the balloon’s appearance, the narrator gives us also measures and numbers, which contributes to the credibility of the text.
The second part of The Balloon Hoax is, as stated, a journal- which means that the narrator (in this case there’s more than one) writes in the first person singular and describes a first-hand experience.
The language used in this part is also very descriptive, but in a different way. Rather than a technical view of the balloon, we are given a practical description of it being put to work. The narrator also gives us detailed descriptions of landscapes and of the way the entire experience affects the emotions of the subjects of enunciation.
In this part of the text there are many words in the semantic camp of transcendence (“beautifully”, “sublime”, “sublimating”, “wonder”, etc.).
"The Balloon Hoax" is a fictitious newspaper article by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the New York Sun in 1844. The article is said to present two narrative instances, both of which are evident upon reading.
ResponderEliminarThe first narrative instance is the article written by Poe himself; a detailed and descriptive account of the story where Poe analyses how the journey unraveled. It can also be inferred that the style and tone of the first narrative instance is technical, factual and reasoned.
The second narrative instance is the full text of Mason and Ainsworth's journal of their 3 day voyage across the Atlantic. The style and tone is notably different here; it is triumphant, animated and exciting. At the completion of the journey, Mason is surprised, "crossing the ocean in a balloon is not so difficult a feat after all" (pg 1080).
The subjects of annunciation throughout the article are Mason and Ainsworth and Poe himself.
«The Balloon Hoax» foi um artigo do escritor Edgar Allen Poe no jornal New York Sun, em 1844. Refere uma suposta primeira viagem de balão pelo Atlântico, que teria sido feita em três dias.
ResponderEliminarNa verdade, é um extenso texto literário, dividido em duas partes, tentando reproduzir dois tipos de discurso: o primeiro, o discurso jornalístico - portanto, o sujeito seria um jornalista -, alongando-se em descrições e pormenores técnicos desta suposta viagem, bem como em experiências anteriores. É uma longa descrição técnica, descrevendo parafusos, hélices que não ajudavam, os materiais utilizados, etc. Pelo meio, promessas de que as informações em falta serão em breve explicadas (talvez sensacionalismo, ao prometer novidades de algo que nunca aconteceu, para além de o referir como «viagem extraordinária»): «(...) in the course of a day or two, we shall put our readers in possession of the minutest particulars respecting this extraordinary voyage.» (pp. 1072-1073)
A segunda parte trata-se duma suposta transcrição do diário de bordo da viagem. O sujeito deixa de ser «nós» (o jornal), para passar a ser «nós» (a tripulação) ou «eu» (o tripulante que escreve uma nota). Aqui a linguagem é mais narrativa, narrando acontecimentos, e não tanto descritiva de algo que existe.
“The Balloon Hoax” (as it says on the page 1063: “It is a hoax in that it is an account of a fictional aeronautic crossing of the Atlantic, told as if it really occurred”) was published in 1844 by Edgar Allan Poe. It was, in fact, all a mere product of Poe’s imagination. But that didn’t stop it from becoming a phenomenon.
ResponderEliminarThe Balloon Hoax has two very distinct narrative instances.
On the first one we come across a piece of news, being Poe the main subject. With a lot of information about the journey, the balloon itself, and some scientific facts. Even though it contains a certain enthusiasm over the accomplishment (“The Atlantic Ocean has been actually traversed in a balloon and in the incredibly brief period of Three Days!” page 1066) we can still see how the main goal of this narrative instance is still very professional and meant for journalistic purpose.
The second narrative instance has more than one subject of enunciation, here we’re presented with a journal. A much more personal view of the journey. More detailed and with emotional character: “The last nine hours have been unquestionably the most exciting of my life. I can conceive nothing more sublimating than the strange peril and novelty of an adventure such as this. May God grant that we succeed!”.
When reading “The Journal” we get caught up in their adventure and we can have a more authentic perspective of this balloon crossing of the Atlantic.
By joining both narratives Poe gave a feeling of realness to this hoax.