Speech and Thought Presentation in the Crime Novels of Andrea Camilleri.

This paper investigates the possibility of using speech and thought presentation as a major linguistic analytical tool both at a high level of generalisation, namely in investigating the nature of a text and determining which genre it may be assigned to, and at a low to middle level of generalisation, namely in accounting for specific effects created in the text such as positioning, distancing, observing and comprehending mental processing. The testing ground is the detective story. Two major sub-genres are identified: a) a low brow variety whose two major functions are entertainment and the conveying of an unstated conservative ideological stance, b) a high-brow variety, which accounts for only a minor part of the production in this domain, and whose major functions include offering a critique of society, debunking the classic detective genre, and innovation in the novel. The principal hypothesis tested is that the low brow texts employ a restricted number of S&TP forms, limited to more traditional modes of presentation and excluding those forms which give access to characters’ inner mental states and processes, while the high brow forms deploy the entire gamut of S&TP modes, making significant use of those modes which enable the reader to observe the mental and emotional states and thoughts of the detective. This latter phenomenon has two major consequences for novels of this sub-type: a) in part it “defeats” one of the major audience-related functions of the traditional crime novel, namely that of the reader trying to work out the identity of the criminal before the sleuth does, thereby diminishing the game value of this sub-genre, b) observing the characters’ mental processes enable inferences to be made regarding personality, emotions, values, thereby broadening the canvass from one of pure entertainment value to one of social, political and/or philosophical investigation.