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Literary positioning refers to how the author orientates themselves in relation to their chosen subject matter and their readers/audience. The author's positioning is how they establish a relationship between themselves and the reader by declaring their stance on the subject matter at hand. There are many ways the author can position themselves, by using personal pronouns, adapting their syntax, their tone, etc.…
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Jetzt kostenlos anmeldenLiterary positioning refers to how the author orientates themselves in relation to their chosen subject matter and their readers/audience. The author's positioning is how they establish a relationship between themselves and the reader by declaring their stance on the subject matter at hand. There are many ways the author can position themselves, by using personal pronouns, adapting their syntax, their tone, etc. We will explore how different methods of positioning work in unison to control how the reader responds to the text.
Dan Clayton argued that there are four ways an author can position themselves in relation to their readers and their chosen subject matter (2016). He refers to the ways in which authors position themselves as: down, among, against, and with.
But what strategies do authors use to position themselves among us, with us, against us, or above us?
Positioning is a helpful term because it describes the complicated web of relationships between the author and the subject matter, the reader and the author, and the reader and the text. The term refers to how we understand and interpret literature from an analytical perspective, guided by the author's positioning.
Authors want to position themselves in order to control how their text is perceived. Positioning is an important part of writing because it concerns how the author presents themselves to their readers; so it is important for them to get it right in order for their work to come across as they intend.
Here are some positioning strategies that allow authors to control how they position themselves in relation to their text.
The tone impacts the position of the author. For example, if they are writing with a direct and assertive tone of voice they are likely to be positioning themselves as an expert, above the reader and providing them with information.
For example, the following article is titled 'How to Start Investing in Stocks: A Beginner's Guide'. The title declaring it as a 'beginner's guide' places the author in the role of 'expert' in comparison to the reader, as they are a 'beginner'.
Investing is a way to set aside money while you are busy with life and have that money work for you so that you can fully reap the rewards of your labour in the future. Investing is a means to a happier ending.
The use of dialect in a text allows the author to position themselves as knowledgeable about a particular area, which makes their work appear more authentic.
For example, Zora Neale Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) is written in African American Vernacular English that was used in Florida in the 1930s.
'They oughta be shamed uh theyselves! Teasin 'dat poor brute lak they is! Done been worked tuh death; done had his diposition ruint wid mistreatment, and now they got tuh finish devilin '' im tuh death. Wishst Ah had mah way wid 'em all'.
Hurston's accurate depiction of the dialect establishes the text as an authentic representation of the southern black community in Florida, positioning the text as a trustworthy source of information. But there are other reasons why the dialect of the text is important in the novel:
This dialect positions the white reader as an outsider, as they are most likely not used to this slang. By doing so, Hurston mimics how black people felt in the 1930s (and arguably do today), on the outskirts of a society dominated by white people.
The use of personal pronouns can often position the reader and author in close proximity, as pronouns are often perceived as a method to make writing more inclusive and engaging.
For example, writers may use rhetorical questions, such as 'Are you tired of waking up feeling like you already want to go back to bed?'
However, personal pronouns do not always serve the purpose of bringing the reader closer to the topic at hand. Sometimes, they can have the opposite effect.
Take this example from one of Jon King's articles for The Daily Mirror in 2008:
The old hate the young. We don't like their styles or their music, we can't speak their language or understand their problems.
In this scenario, King's use of pronouns distances him as an author from the young, as King aligns himself with 'the old', suggested by his use of the word 'we'. The repeated use of 'their' reiterates the old and young as separate groups, as King positions himself against the young.
The layout of a text controls how the reader interprets the text as it dictates how they read it and what sections they take note of. Pictures and subheadings guide the reader through the text, by signposting their focus through different parts of the text.
Newspaper articles are a clear example of how layout is used to guide the reader.- pixabay
For example, the article may be titled 'How to Make Money Quickly From Home', and the subheadings may read 'Setting up Your Work Space', 'Finding the Right Job for You', and so on. They reveal to the reader what each part of the text will be about, helping them follow the article.
You may have noticed that all of the methods of positioning are ways in which the author, directly or indirectly, addresses the reader. Let's find out more about the strategies of positioning.
In order to position themselves, the authors need to address the reader. The way in which they do so alters their position. Here are some examples:
Sometimes authors explicitly point out their position to the reader, framing the reader's understanding of their writing.
For example, the letters at the beginning of Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley inform the reader that there is going to be a horrendous story to follow:
'His limbs were nearly frozen, and his body dreadfully emaciated by fatigue and suffering. I never saw a man in such a wretched condition. '
This quote prefaces the novel.
In 1989 Norman Fairclough coined the phrase 'synthetic personalisation'. This refers to the way some texts communicate with us in a friendly and intimate way when the person who wrote it does not know us on a personal level, as synthetic personalisation. As our world becomes increasingly digital, we are seeing a large amount of synthetic personalisation on our computers and mobile phones.
Synthetic personalisation is a false sense of familiarity, from a source that is not actually familiar with you as a person.
Task: Consider whether influencers on social media have a synthetic personalisation in the way they interact with their followers? Why would it be beneficial for them to adopt a friendly demeanour?
The phrase 'lexical choices' simply refers to the word choices used by the text producer. The author's word choices reveal their position in relation to the reader. For example, Virginia Wolf in A Room of One's Own (1929) opens the text with a question: 'But, you may say, we asked you to speak about women and fiction - what was that got to do with a room of one's own?'
This doesn't just apply to authors and readers, it can also apply to two people in a conversation.
Think of judges on talent shows, they have an assertive tone and they often use technical language indicating their knowledge and expertise on the subject.
Their language places them in a position of expertise in comparison with the contestant, as they offer advice from their higher position.
Positioning refers to how the author orientates themselves in relation to their chosen subject matter and their readers / audience. The author's positioning is how they establish a relationship between themselves and the reader by declaring their stance on the subject matter at hand.
The types of positioning include, above, amongst, against, and with the reader.
Positioning is a helpful term because it describes the complicated web of relationships between the author and the subject matter, the reader and the author, and the reader and the text. The term refers to how we understand and interpret literature from an analytical perspective, guided by the author's positioning.
The strategy behind positioning is in how the author addresses the reader. The ways in which authors address readers include lexical choices, synthetic personalization, and framing.
Literary positioning refers to how the author orientates themselves in relation to their chosen subject matter and their readers/audience.
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