Digression (
parekbasis in
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
,
egressio,
digressio and
excursion in
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
) is a section of a composition or speech that is an intentional change of subject. In Classical
rhetoricRhetoric is one of the arts of using language as a means to persuade. Along with grammar and logic or dialectic, rhetoric is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. From ancient Greece to the late 19th Century, it was a central part of Western education, filling the need to train public...
since
Corax of SyracuseCorax , along with Tisias, was one of the founders of ancient Greek rhetoric. It has sometimes been asserted that they are merely legendary personages. Other scholars contend that Corax and Tisias were the same person, described in one fragment as "Tisias, the Crow"...
, especially in
Institutio Oratoria of
QuintilianMarcus Fabius Quintilianus was a Roman rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing...
, the digression was a regular part of any oration or composition. (An oratorical discourse should have five sections: prelude, narration, argumentation, digression and conclusion.
Digression (
parekbasis in
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
,
egressio,
digressio and
excursion in
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
) is a section of a composition or speech that is an intentional change of subject. In Classical
rhetoricRhetoric is one of the arts of using language as a means to persuade. Along with grammar and logic or dialectic, rhetoric is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. From ancient Greece to the late 19th Century, it was a central part of Western education, filling the need to train public...
since
Corax of SyracuseCorax , along with Tisias, was one of the founders of ancient Greek rhetoric. It has sometimes been asserted that they are merely legendary personages. Other scholars contend that Corax and Tisias were the same person, described in one fragment as "Tisias, the Crow"...
, especially in
Institutio Oratoria of
QuintilianMarcus Fabius Quintilianus was a Roman rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing...
, the digression was a regular part of any oration or composition. (An oratorical discourse should have five sections: prelude, narration, argumentation, digression and conclusion. But, the place of digression is not fixed, so it can come before or after argumentation). After setting out the topic of a work and establishing the need for attention to be given, the speaker or author would digress to a seemingly disconnected subject before returning to a development of the composition's theme, a proof of its validity, and a conclusion. This use of the digression is still noticeable in many
sermonA sermon is an oration by a prophet or member of the clergy. Sermons address a Biblical, theological, religious, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law or behavior within both past and present contexts...
s: after the topic, the speaker will introduce a "story" that seems to be unrelated, return to the subject, and then reveal that the story illustrates the speaker's point. A
schizothemia is a digression by means of a long reminiscence.
In literature, the digression (not to be confused with
subplotA subplot, sometimes referred to as a "B story" or a "C story" and so on, is a secondary plot strand that is auxiliary to the main plot.Subplots may connect to main plots, in either time and place or in thematic significance...
) was a substantial part of satiric works of the 18th century. Works such as
Jonathan SwiftJonathan Swift was an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
's
A Tale of a TubA Tale of a Tub was the first major work written by Jonathan Swift, composed between 1694 and 1697 and published in 1704. It is arguably his most difficult satire, and perhaps his most masterly...
,
Laurence SterneLaurence Sterne was an Irish-born English novelist and an Anglican clergyman. He is best known for his novels The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, and A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy; but he also published many sermons, wrote memoirs, and was involved in local politics...
's
Tristram Shandy and Diderot's
Jacques le fataliste et son maîtreJacques the Fatalist and his Master is a novel by Denis Diderot, written during the period 1765-1780. The first French edition was published posthumously in 1796...
made digressiveness itself a part of the satire. Sterne's novel, in particular, depended upon the digression, and he wrote, "Digressions, incontestably, are the sunshine; -- they are the life, the soul of reading; -- take them out of this book (
Tristram Shandy) for instance, -- you might as well take the book along with them." This use of digression as satire later showed up in
Thomas CarlyleThomas Carlyle was a Scottish satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher during the Victorian era.He called economics "the dismal science", wrote articles for the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, and became a controversial social commentator.
Coming from a strict Calvinist family,...
's work. The digression was also used for non-satiric purposes in fiction. In
Henry FieldingHenry Fielding was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humour and satirical prowess, and as the author of the novel Tom Jones....
's
The History of Tom Jones, a FoundlingThe History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, often known simply as Tom Jones, is a comic novel by the English playwright and novelist Henry Fielding. First published on 28 February 1749, Tom Jones is among the earliest English prose works describable as a novel...
, the author has numerous asides and digressive statements that are a side-fiction, and this sort of digression within chapters shows up later in the work of
Charles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens FRSA , pen-name "Boz", was the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era and one of the most popular of all time. He created some of literature's most memorable characters. His novels and short stories have never gone out of print...
,
William Makepeace ThackerayWilliam Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.-Biography:...
,
Herman MelvilleHerman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist and poet who is often classified as part of dark romanticism...
,
Victor HugoVictor-Marie Hugo was a French poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
and others. The novels of Tolstoi, J.D. Salinger,
Marcel ProustValentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, essayist, and critic, best known as the author of À la recherche du temps perdu , a monumental work of twentieth-century fiction published in seven parts from 1913 to...
,
Henry MillerHenry Valentine Miller was an American novelist and painter. He was known for breaking with existing literary forms and developing a new sort of 'novel' that is a mixture of novel, autobiography, social criticism, philosophical reflection, surrealist free association, and mysticism, one that is...
,
Milan KunderaMilan Kundera is a Czech and French writer of Czech origin who has lived in exile in France since 1975, where he became a naturalized citizen in 1981...
and
Robert MusilRobert Musil, fully Robert Mathias Edler von Musil was an Austrian writer. His unfinished long novel The Man Without Qualities is generally considered to be one of the most important modernist novels....
are also full of digressions.
In late twentieth-century literature (in
postmodern fictionThe term Postmodern literature is used to describe certain tendencies in post-World War II literature. It is both a continuation of the experimentation championed by writers of the modernist period and a reaction against Enlightenment ideas implicit in Modernist literature...
), authors began to use digressions as a way of distancing the reader from the fiction and for creating a greater sense of play.
John FowlesJohn Robert Fowles was an English novelist and essayist.-Birth and family:Fowles was born in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex, England, the son of Gladys May Richards and Robert John Fowles. Robert Fowles came from a family of middle-class merchants of London. Robert's father Reginald was a partner of the...
's
The French Lieutenant's WomanThe French Lieutenant’s Woman , by John Fowles, is a period novel inspired by the 1823 novel Ourika, by Claire de Duras, which Fowles translated to English during 1977...
and
Lawrence NorfolkLawrence Norfolk is a British novelist known for historical works with complex plots and intricate detail. His novels are also known for their unusually large vocabulary....
's
Lemprière's Dictionary both employ digressions to offer scholarly background to the fiction, while others, like
Gilbert SorrentinoGilbert Sorrentino was an American novelist, short story writer, poet, literary critic, and editor.In over twenty-five works of fiction and poetry, Sorrentino explored the comic and formal possibilities of language and literature...
in
Mulligan Stew, use digression to prevent the functioning of the fiction's illusions.
- Quintilian
Marcus Fabius Quintilianus was a Roman rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing...
, Institutio Oratoria, vol IV.
- Maurice Laugaa, 'le théâtre de la digression dans le discours classique' in Semiotica
Semiotica is a scientific journal that publishes articles on semiotics. Semiotica is the official journal of the International Association for Semiotic Studies. Since 2000, the journal has published regularly five volumes per year...
IV, 1971.
- Randa Sabry, Stratégies discursives, Editions de E.H.E.S.S., Paris, 1992. (known as the best historical and theorical study on the digression in literature and rhetoric. Written in French but still unavailable in English)
- Christine Montalbetti & Nathalie Piegay-Gros, la digression dans le récit, Bertrand-Lacoste, Paris, 1994. (summary book for students)
- Pierre Bayard, Hors-sujet : Proust et la digression, Editions de Minuit, Paris, 1996.
External links