文学作品分析类Essay写作时如何正确引用文本

留学生们一定知道,在Essay写作不免需要引用到别人分析的观点甚至是文本,尤其是文学作品分析类的相关作业,因此,要如何正确引用文本就非常重要,为了到达作业的论证不受影响,逻辑不出现问题,那么首先就要求在引用文本上不能出现错误或者引用不当的情况。至于文学作品分析类Essay写作时如何正确引用文本,今天就给各位简单讲解一下。

 

不要混淆作者和叙述者

如果是非小说作品,你在引用的时候,一般要介绍作者,According to XXX… 但是在引用小说或者诗歌的时候,不要把作者和叙述者(Narrator,诗歌中叫做 Speaker)相混淆。

下面的引用就不对(括号里是诗歌的行数):

Poet Andrew Marvell describes his fear of death like this: “But at my back I always hear / Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near” (21-22).

 

应该这么引用:

Addressing his beloved in an attempt to win her sexual favors, the speaker of the poem argues that death gives them no time to waste: “But at my back I always hear / Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near” (21-22).

 

或者这么引用:

The poem “To His Coy Mistress” says as much about fleeting time and death as it does about sexual passion. Its most powerful lines may well be “But at my back I always hear / Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near” (21-22).

当然你也可以把诗人指出来:Marvell’s poem “To His Coy Mistress” says as much. . . .

引用的时候给读者提供背景信息

你在引用的时候,要告诉读者这句话是叙述者(Narrator)还是小说、戏剧人物(Character)讲的,下面的两个例子分别选自 Tennessee Williams 的戏剧 The Glass Menagerie 和 Shirley Jackson 的短篇小说“The Lottery.”加粗的就是引言的背景。

Laura’s life is so completely ruled by Amanda that when urged to make a wish on the moon, she asks, “What shall I wish for, Mother?” (1.5.140).

When a neighbor suggests that the lottery should be abandoned, Old Man Warner responds, “There’s always been a lottery” (284)

引用的时候时态要保持一致

文学作品一般使用过去时,但是如果要评论文学作品,一般要用一般现在时,所以在引用的时候,要保持时态的一致。这个需要多加训练,否则会出现下面的句子:

When Rita sees Johnny’s relaxed attitude, “she blushed, like a wave of illness” (159).

 

应该这么修改:

When Rita sees Johnny’s relaxed attitude, she blushes “like a wave of illness” (159).

或者这么修改,引语中的中括号表示你在原文上做了修改:

When Rita sees Johnny’s relaxed attitude, “she blushe[s] like a wave of illness” (159).

如果对引文有修改,用中括号或者省略号

如果对原文有添加或者修改(如上面讲到的时态的改变),需要用中括号表示,如:

Mama describes Dee as “lighter [-skinned] than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure” (289). 这边如果不加 skinned,读者没有语境就可能会不理解。

如果是一句话里面的省略,则用省略号:

With a straight face, the substitute teacher, Miss Ferenczi, tells the fourth-grade class, “In higher mathematics, . . . six times eleven can be considered to be sixty-eight” (130). 注意,这里是三个点!每个点之间有空格!

如果是省略几句话,那么省略号前面有句号:

When a student announces that Mr. Hibler always begins class with the Pledge of Allegiance, Miss Ferenczi replies, “Oh, does he? In that case you must know it very well by now, and we certainly need not spend time on it. . . . A pledge does not suit my mood” (129). 注意!这边是四个点(句号+省略号)!每个点之间有空格!

如果引文中有引文

这个时候,最外面的用双引号,文中的引文用单引号,像这样:

Early in the novel the narrator’s half-sister Kwan sees–or thinks she sees–ghosts: “‘Libby-ah,’ she’ll say to me. ‘Guess who I see yesterday, you guess.’ And I don’t have to guess she’s talking about someone dead” (3).

以上就是关于文学作品分析类Essay引用文本的方法,同学们一定要尽快掌握这些写作方法,让你的论文更上一层楼。