Poetics and Quotidian Verbal Art

The classic conception of poetics is that it is concerned with what sets literary discourse apart from ordinary discourse, a distinction usually resting on a purported difference between literary language and ‘ordinary’ language. Deborah Tannen makes the strong claim that ‘literary discourse…rather than being most different from ordinary conversation, is, in fact, most similar to it…’. Her conception of literary language is that it is a hybrid of features that Chafe has identified with the written language and features he has identified with spoken language Tannen supports her claim by comparing a story told in casual conversation (titled ‘Fernandez’), with a written versions composed by the original teller, The written version is judged to be literature because it ‘is more “spoken-like” than the spoken version’. A detailed critique of her conception of literary language is presented. It is noted that Tannen does not move from a concern for the language of literature to a concern for texts and narrative structure. A narrative analysis of the two versions of ‘Fernandez’ is presented, which shows that each version has a different structure—the oral version corresponds to a humorous anecdote, or joke whereas the written version has characteristics of a short story, but falls short.