The comic effect in David Lodge’s "campus trilogy": linguistic means and extralinguistic factors

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The comic effect in David Lodge's “campus trilogy”: linguistic means and extralinguistic factors

Olesya Ladnytska, Nataliya Kozhemyako

The article deals with the analysis of the comic in fiction, namely the analysis of linguistic means and extralinguistic factors responsible for creating a comic effect in David Lodge's «Campus Trilogy». The topicality of the research lies in the exceptional heterogeneity of the category of the comic providing room for constant investigation. The research is based on the study of three main comic forms - humour, irony and sarcasm, with parody determining the structural and plot ideas of the overtly comic-satiric sequel to the first novel which is predominantly humorous and mild ironic. The comic acts are subjected to analysis on the levels of semantics (metaphors, metonymies, mostly humorous hyperboles, usually ironic epithets, allusions and paradoxes), on the level of discourse (when the conventions that govern the use of language are offset against each other thus creating a comic effect), register (the shifts in style) and pragmatics (when the conversational maxims are violated triggering incongruities and hence comic effects, mainly sarcastic). The approach to analyzing comic effects suggested above proves indispensable when the comic acts analysed involve extralinguistic factors.

Key words: comic, humour, irony, sarcasm, discourse, pragmatics.

comic sarcasm satiric humorous

Ëàäíèöüêà Îëåñÿ, Êîæåìÿêî Íàòàë³ÿ. Êîì³÷íå â «Óí³âåðñèòåòñüê³é òðèëî㳿» Äåâ³äà Ëîäæà: ìîâí³ çàñîáè òà ïîçàìîâí³ ÷èííèêè. Ñòàòòÿ ïðèñâÿ÷åíà àíàë³çó êîì³÷íîãî â õóäîæí³é ë³òåðàòóð³, çîêðåìà àíàë³çó ìîâíèõ çàñîá³â ³ ïîçàìîâíèõ ÷èííèê³â, ùî ï³äëÿãàþòü êîì³÷íîìó åôåêòó â äîñë³äæóâàí³é òðèëî㳿.

Àêòóàëüí³ñòü ðîçâ³äêè - ó âèíÿòêîâ³é ãåòåðîãåííîñò³ êàòåãî𳿠êîì³÷íîãî, ùî ñòàíîâèòü ïîñò³éíèé ³íòåðåñ. Äîñë³äæåííÿ îõîïëþº àíàë³ç òðüîõ îñíîâíèõ êîì³÷íèõ ôîðì - ãóìîðó, ³ðîí³¿, ñàðêàçìó, ïàðîä³ÿ æ âèçíà÷ຠñòðóêòóðí³ òà ñþæåòí³ îñîáëèâîñò³ êîì³÷íî-ñàòèðè÷íèõ ïðîäîâæåíü ïåðøîãî ðîìàíó, â ÿêîìó ïåðåâàæຠãóìîð ³ ì'ÿêà ³ðîí³ÿ. Êîì³÷í³ àêòè ïðîàíàë³çîâàíî íà ð³âíÿõ ñåìàíòèêè (ìåòàôîð, ìåòîí³ì³é, ïåðåâàæíî ãóìîðèñòè÷íèõ ã³ïåðáîë, ³ðîí³÷íèõ åï³òåò³â, àëþç³é, ïàðàäîêñ³â), íà ð³âí³ äèñêóðñó (êîëè óìîâíîñò³, ùî ðåãóëþþòü âèêîðèñòàííÿ ìîâè, îá³ãðóþòüñÿ îäèí ïðîòè îäíîãî, ñòâîðþþ÷è êîì³÷íèé åôåêò), ðåã³ñòðó (çì³ùåííÿ â ñòèë³) ³ ïðàãìàòèêè (êîëè ðîçìîâí³ ìàêñèìè ïîðóøóþòüñÿ, çâ³äêè é êîì³÷íèé åôåêò). Òàêèé ï³äõ³ä äî àíàë³çó êîì³÷íîãî ïîòð³áíèé, êîëè êîì³÷í³ àêòè çóìîâëåí³, çîêðåìà, ïîçàìîâíèìè ôàêòîðàìè.

Êëþ÷îâ³ ñëîâà: êîì³÷íå, ãóìîð, ³ðîí³ÿ, ñàðêàçì, ñåìàíòèêà, äèñêóðñ, ïðàãìàòèêà.

Ëàäíèöêàÿ Îëåñÿ, Êîæåìÿêî Íàòàëèÿ. Êîìè÷åñêîå â «Óíèâåðñèòåòñêîé òðèëîãèè» Äýâèäà Ëîäæà: ÿçûêîâûå ñðåäñòâà è âíåÿçûêîâûå ôàêòîðû. Ñòàòüÿ ïîñâÿùåíà àíàëèçó êîìè÷åñêîãî â õóäîæåñòâåííîé ëèòåðàòóðå, àíàëèçó ÿçûêîâûõ ñðåäñòâ è âíåÿçûêîâûõ ôàêòîðîâ, îòâåòñòâåííûõ çà êîìè÷åñêèé ýôôåêò â èçó÷àåìîé òðèëîãèè. Àêòóàëüíîñòü ðàáîòû - â èñêëþ÷èòåëüíîé íåîäíîðîäíîñòè êàòåãîðèè êîìè÷åñêîãî, ñïîñîáñòâóþùåé ïîñòîÿííûì åå èçó÷åíèÿì. Èññëåäîâàíèå îñíîâàíî íà èçó÷åíèè òðåõ îñíîâíûõ êîìè÷åñêèõ ôîðì - þìîðà, èðîíèè, ñàðêàçìà, ïàðîäèÿ æå îïðåäåëÿåò ñòðóêòóðíûå è ñþæåòíûå îñîáåííîñòè êîìè÷åñêî-ñàòèðè÷åñêèõ ïðîäîëæåíèé ïåðâîãî ðîìàíà, ãäå ïðåîáëàäàåò þìîð è ìÿãêàÿ èðîíèÿ. Êîìè÷åñêèå àêòû ïîäâåðãàþòñÿ àíàëèçó íà óðîâíÿõ ñåìàíòèêè (ìåòàôîð, ìåòîíèìèè, â îñíîâíîì þìîðèñòè÷åñêèõ ãèïåðáîë, èðîíè÷íûõ ýïèòåòîâ, àëëþçèé è ïàðàäîêñîâ), íà óðîâíå äèñêóðñà (êîãäà óñëîâíîñòè, ðåãóëèðóþùèå èñïîëüçîâàíèå ÿçûêà îáûãðûâàþòñÿ äðóã ïðîòèâ äðóãà, ñîçäàâàÿ êîìè÷åñêèé ýôôåêò), ðåãèñòðà (ñäâèãè â ñòèëå) è ïðàãìàòèêè (êîãäà ðàçãîâîðíûå ìàêñèìû íàðóøàþòñÿ, ñîçäàâàÿ êîìè÷åñêèé ýôôåêò). Òàêîé ïîäõîä ê àíàëèçó êîìè÷åñêîãî íåîáõîäèì â ñèëó äåéñòâèÿ âíåÿçûêîâûõ ôàêòîðîâ.

Êëþ÷åâûå ñëîâà: êîìè÷åñêîå, þìîð, èðîíèÿ, ñàðêàçì, ñåìàíòèêà, äèñêóðñ, ïðàãìàòèêà.

Significance of the Scientific Issue in Question. The category of the comic is many-faceted and finds its expression in different spheres of everyday life. It is an essential component of social relationships, a complicated aspect of human cognitive processes, and a means of expressing hidden or disguised feelings and emotions. Due to such heterogeneity of its nature, comic forms and effects have been the object of study for philosophers, psychologists, sociologists and, definitely, linguists. The latter analyze the phenomenon of the comic identifying the means and devices responsible for its occurrence, the functions it performs and the effects it produces, developing their hypotheses on the theories of sociology, cognitive sciences, psychological researches and physiological triggers. Taking into account the fact that all of the above mentioned issues can be realized in literature it makes sense to analyze comic effects on the material of fictional texts where the category of the comic can be expressed in its different forms, namely humour, irony, sarcasm etc. I t is all the more expedient if the fiction to be drawn on is comic by definition. And prose is considered comic if it so in its overall purpose. The English novel tradition is remarkable for the number of comic novels among its classics, David Lodge being one of the most notable and consistent representatives of the genre at least since the publication of the first part of what would later be called “Campus Trilogy” including “Changing Places” (1975) [7], “Small World” (1984) [9] and “Nice Work” (1988) [8] united by one major theme - the analysis of contemporary university.

Analysis of the Research in the Realm. The analysis of the comic phenomena is traced back to the antique philosophy and is still abundantly conducted. Within the scope of modern research interests there are such issues as reasons for laughing, mental processes taking place during experiencing comic situations etc. There exist many theories of the comic developed, namely incongruity theories (J. Suls, Th. Shultz, P. Mc Ghee), superiority theories (A. Rapp, Ch. R. Gruner), release theories (with a tribute to S. Freud) etc. Such prominent scholars as V. Raskin, S. Attardo, D. Chiaro, Alexander R. J. etc. made a significant contribution to the analysis of the comic. It is worth mentioning though that there is a terminology clash in the realm of the comic: while Eastern European scholars prefer the term «comic» to denote the generic category embracing all specific kinds of the comic like humour, irony, sarcasm, parody etc., American and Western European linguists use the term «humour» as an umbrella term, applying it to all the types of comic discourses including humour proper. Thus, due to the numerous dimensions and miscellaneous issues in this sphere as well as thanks to the interdisciplinary developments there is constantly some room left or appearing for further investigation.

Objectives of the Article. The aim of the research is to analyze the peculiarities of the verbal humour sustained by the extralinguistic paramètres in David Lodge's novels under study. Accordingly, the tasks of our research are to identify the comic acts and specify the means and factors that underlie and contribute to the comic effect in D. Lodge's comic campus novels. We did not aim at a complete coverage of the comic instances attempting nevertheless to embrace the majority of means and devices involved. The substantial though not exhaustive percentage of the comic acts covered must prove helpful to conduct quantitative and qualitative analysis and thus pinpoint the major peculiarities of the comic effects in the novels.

Material Layout and Results. David Lodge's “Campus Trilogy” is full of all three major comic forms - humour (a kind, gentle, direct mockery, with “the positive attitude to what is described” [1, p. 88], irony (veiled, hidden mockery, “when a positively charged word is understood as a negative qualification” [1, p. 88] and very rarely - vice versa, which is the case of asterism), sarcasm (bitter mockery, contempt, harsh and often crude [3, p.16-18] exposing with demonstrated negative implication some grave vices, especially in social spheres) and to a lesser extent parody (a style imitation whose intent is to reproduce the peculiarities of the original with the aim of criticism demanding for its decoding some intertextual knowledge).

The narrative tone of “Changing Places” is mostly ironic and humorous: D. Lodge mocks at his characters - sometimes mildly, sometimes more sharply - and, in general, harsh criticism is absent: no characters trigger negative emotions, what they evoke is rather understanding and sympathy, disregarding their actions and thoughts. The comic effects in the comic-satiric “Small World” can be analyzed not only in terms of the narrative tone, but also in terms of the very plot: the whole novel, in a broad sense, is a parody of the medieval romance based on the story of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table and their quest for the Grail, its contemporary setting being international conferences where scholars compete with each other both professionally and erotically, the modern Grail symbolizing the reward in both aspects. The author's attitude towards the characters is, as in the first novel, humorous and ironic. What concerns “Nice Work”, it is not devoid of parody either, this time of an industrial novel. The serious issues raised in the novel - the quality of education, the problems of immigrants, factory work, unemployment etc. - may account for the satirical tone prevailing in the last sequel. Here the function of mockery is not to make a reader laugh but to reveal the imperfections of life, its triviality and absurdity, though apart from taunting irony and sarcasm the novel is full of mild ironic and humourous effects. Basically humour proper, irony, sarcasm, and parody are techniques that can be applied to a text in order to create a humorous discourse; they are only devices, instruments of mockery. The very text that includes these devices is termed satire and is considered a genre (some scholars prefer the term “discursive practice”) [6, p. 8]. P. Simpson defined satire as a “preeminent form of humour [in its western meaning]” [6, p. 4]: its dominant function is obviously aggressive, while the role of satire in consolidating intergroup bonds is seen as the social function, and linguistic creativity in producing a satirical text - as the intellectual one. Actually, the difference between the forms of the comic is a subtle one and lies mainly in the motivation behind them.

Taking place in actual situations or in fictional ones - fiction being considered nowadays equal in communicative status and authenticity to other kinds of discourses - the category of the comic reveals itself in a particular form which can be used to illustrate all of its properties of social, cognitive, and linguistic character. This form is a comic act, “an individual occurrence of a funny stimulus” [4, p. 3]. A humour act (in its broad sense) must comprise particular elements, both linguistic and extralinguistic, without which it cannot exist. These components are as follows: human participants, a stimulus (an utterance or a situation responded to humorously), life experience and temperament, social factor and situational context. In many cases it is precisely on contextual, sometimes extralinguistic factors that a resolution as the final component of the humour act depends on. Therefore, it is necessary to resort to the interpretation of the comic that would allow us to analyze the material with regard to the context as well. For this reason, scholars [5, p. 30] suggest studying humour in terms of such fields as semantics, pragmatics, discourse, and register.

Due to the play on semantics (denotations and connotations, direct and transferred meanings etc.) there appears semantic incongruity that is the reason for the comic effect. The incongruity, according to A. Ross, is of two types. The first type is characterized by the contradiction between the meaning and the actual utterance (paradox, oxymoron, tautology). Metaphors form the second type [5]. We will concentrate on the meanings that appear in context and cannot be used outside it:

1) metaphor, based on transference by similarity, can prove a powerful means of creating a comic effect when completely unexpected words are used to create a metaphoric image. The more unusual the combination of tenor and vehicle, the more comic the situation, whatever the form.

- “He had a brief honeymoon (V¹) with Radio One that turned into a kind of a sado-masochistic marriage (V²)” [7, p. 71]. (T is implied - the period of Morris' listening to Radio One) (Humour);

- “The MLA (T) is the Big Daddy of conferences (V¹)... a three-ring circus of the literary intelligentsia (V²)” [9]. (Irony) Describing a serious international conference as “the Big Daddy” and “circus”, the author compromises its authority and mockingly undermines its reputation.

The rest of the numerous examples of metaphors with a comic effect reveal a lot of other mostly ironic and sarcastic implications: irony evident in “The lobes of his brain (T) were two spools (V) on which her tape played and replayed.” [8, p. 283], “reading is his love and writing his sex” [9, p. 98] etc., sarcasm at work in “He had expected congratulations and had received instead a flea in his ear” [8, p. 209], “in the dreary desert of contemporary criticism” [9, p. 164], “It was true that he had been educated at a public school, but he managed to disguise this handicap very well” [8, p. 44] etc.

There are also some examples of personification with the comic effect:

- humorous: “Sutcliffe's glasses (T) nearly jumped off his nose” [7, p. 218], “his usual battlements of books” [9, p. 149] etc.;

- ironic: “torturing his electric guitar (T)” [8, p. 77], “The engine wheezes asthmatically for several seconds before it coughs into life” [8, p. 377], “the old female rape-fantasy rearing its ugly head' [8, p. 295] etc.

2) Metonymy, based on transference by contiguity, is responsible for many a comic effect in the trilogy. It is mostly found in the form of synecdoche:

- “He returned to his bedroom and after a few minutes heard the sound of plainsong change abruptly into the driving beat of a current hit by the Jackson Five. There was still a hope for Ireland (V), then” [7, p. 92]. (T - Bernadette) (Irony) Morris, judging the Irish by the relatives of O'Shea whom he considers eccentric, is relieved to know that there are people in the country who behave normally;

- “... questions Hilary's shrouded back (V)” [9]. (T - Hilary herself) (Humour) The comic impression is that Morris speaks to himself rather than to his wife.

Other metonymies prompting a humorous effect in David Lodge's trilogy are: “The fur coat loomed over him...” [7, p. 84], “Other heads in their vicinity are turned, and talking to each other, wearing worried expressions” [9, p. 306]. Some of those triggering ironical effect are: “the cabin of the aircraft, a cramped tube full of writhing limbs in the form of synecdoche expressed by nouns in the form of synecdoche expressed by nouns” [7, p. 9], “Soho seemed distinctly less sinful in the late morning sunshine” [9, p. 191], “Caribbean faces now preponderate on the pavements” [8, p. 99]. Those responsible for sarcastic implications include: “She could put Basil's nose out of joint by buying a Porsche” [7, p. 377] and “... found the house totally silent, all three children and their mother sound asleep at 9.30 in the morning. No wonder the country is going to the dogs” [8, p. 27] where the claim that the economic, cultural etc. development, or rather decline of a country depends on the morning work is an exaggeration whose comic effect is reinforced by a synecdoche - the “sins” of one family members are ascribed to all people in the country.

3) Hyperbole, used in order to intensify some idea, may have an emotional impact which in the case of D. Lodge's novels transforms into the comic effect due to unexpected images:

- “It's so quiet you can hear the guy's beard growing” [7, p. 125]. (Humour) The humour is in the fact that it is impossible to hear anything growing;

- “The tolerance of people here is enough to turn your stomach' [7, p. 126]. (Sarcasm) This image implies that such tolerance is huge and annoying.

Other cases of mostly humorous hyperboles include “Professor Zapp nearly swallowed his cigar” [9], “Playing squash was the only time Penny wore a bra - without it, as she said, her boozums would bounce from wall to wall faster than the ball” [8, p. 94], “separate rooms not just for eating, sleeping and excreting, but also for cooking, studying, entertaining, watching television, playing games, washing clothes and practicing hobbies - all spread profligately over acres of land, so that it could take a whole minute to walk from, say, one's bedroom to one's study” [9, p. 104]. Some are ironic, e.g. “The dimpled, sloe-eyed girl students never seemed to be allowed closer than lecturing distance to him, unless they appeared in the rule of daughters to one of the academic coupled, and Philip had the feeling that to make a pass at one of them might provoke a diplomatic incident' [9, p. 211].

4) The majority of epithets found in D. Lodge's trilogy are unassociative, adding a feature not inherent in the concept and semantically very distant from usual attributes. A lot are striking, causing a cognitive shift in readers' mental pictures, this way having a comic, usually ironical effect:

- “Bernadette flashes him a disconcertingly gap-toothed grin” [7, p. 104]. The epithet underlines Bernadette's origin: the girl comes from a village, and she lacks some elegance and manners;

- “She stared at his big, brown hand, hair luxuriant on the knuckles” [7, p. 203]. Normally, hair on knuckles is not considered beautiful; by using the epithet “luxuriant”, the author violates this norm, which causes a comic effect;

- “... a pale, pear-shaped torso” [9]. A man whose torso is compared to a fruit evidently does not look very masculine; this way the author mocks at him;

- “... some sheets of foolscap covered with evil-looking handwriting” [7, p. 214] which is not the characteristic one normally attributes to handwriting;

- and set off at his brisk terrier's trot” [8, p. 127]. The character that is described through a dog's feature looks ridiculous.

5) Allusions bringing intertextual elements into the novels can lead to the shift in discourse/register as well causing incongruity due to the great semantic distance between the tenor and the vehicle. This results in mostly ironic effects:

- “Thus spake Zapp in his graduate seminar” [7, p. 12] Cf: “Thus Spake Zarathustra”; alluding to a famous philosophical work, the author changes the contextual tone, namely from the casual to the elevated one;

- “Who is it, Mel, the Gestapo?” [7, p. 144] The unexpected guest - Desiree - is metaphorically compared to a cruel Nazi secret policeman;

- “The changeover had taken place in the Easter vacation amid much wailing and gnashing of teeth” [7, p. 211]. It is a Biblical allusion meaning suffering of sinners in hell; this way, the changeover is described as a horrible experience;

- “This was a type of elevator. named a paternoster” [7, p. 212] which is a Latin name for the Lord's Prayer. An elevator named after a prayer, especially a Latin one, creates the impression of hidden mockery;

- “And the Daddy Bear said, `Who's been sleeping in my bed?” [7, p. 237]. This famous fairy-tale phrase appears in the novel in the form of a recording to which Philip listens. In the context, its functional meaning is significant since it alludes to Philip and Morris exchanging not only workplaces, but also their wives.

- “Frailty Thy Name is Man” [9]. Cf: “Frailty Thy Name is Woman” from Shakespeare's “Hamlet”; making a subtle change Desiree claims her feminist views;

- “. when you go to a party, the first thing anyone says to you is, “Red or white?”... like the Wars of the Roses were still going on” [8, p. 323]. The War of The Roses between two dynasties - the House of York whose badge was a white rose, and the House of Lancaster the badge of whom was a red one - prompts Philip's play on words which contextually can refer to both the wine and the dynasties.

6) With paradoxes the semantic unexpectedness of the idea may be so great that there appears a comic effect, mainly ironical: “... Doctor O'Shea, who came in to watch Morris's colour TV and to drink his whisky, and perhaps to escape the joys of family' [7, p. 72] (the italicized phrase is oxymoronic and thus ambiguous since the joys of the family which originally has a positive meaning in this context acquires negative connotations), “Jogging is punishment.... It makes me feel so terrible, I figure it must be doing me good' [9] (which sounds illogical, but taking into account the fact that any results depend on the efforts, it makes some sense).

In one of its interpretations, discourse is referred to as language in use, as the conventions that define this or that use of language [5, p. 41] which can be offset in fiction for producing a comic effect. To provide one bright example of the humorous effect of this we will take the following from the dialogue in “Small World” where the pseudo-religious expletive is wrongly taken in its semantically primary meaning:

“Then, “Who said that?” Rodney Wainwright quavered.

“Jesus,” said Greg.

“Jesus?”

“I mean, Jesus, the fucking line is still open,” said Greg” [9, p. 178].

According to A. Ross, discourse of the humorous text helps to predict certain reactions and play on them for creating comic effects. For instance, the openings of the text may give a listener the idea what to expect to happen next; the same concerns dialogues - “knowing the appropriate range of responses at stages in conversation” [5, p. 41] a person can use a response, considered usual, in a context not suitable for doing this way. More broadly, a person may misinterpret the whole piece of discourse thus causing humour: in “Changing Places” an episodic third-world character at a march for equal rights took the discourse of the banner not as an incentive to fighting for gender equality but as an advertisement: “Free child Care Centers 24 Hours a Day”. The last of these slogans moved a Puerto Rican housewife to hold up the profession: where, please, could she find one of the Centers? The marchers explained regretfully that they didn't exist yet” [7, p. 153].

The comic clash of different kinds of discourses is present throughout the trilogy resolving itself into the issue of register in its more overtly verbal aspect in the form of formal register and a number of casual ones.

When some register is used inappropriately, when “register of certain words or phrases clashes with that of the surrounding context” [2, p. 41-42] it may lead to misunderstanding which can transform into incongruity and even absurdity. Usually the shift occurs in the direction from elevated style to commonplace, but we found both. Naturally, these characteristics of register are used to create comic effects:

- “And any clown with a PhD should be able to teach English 99” [7, p. 60]. (Sarcasm) As there is a huge semantic gap between the notions “clown” and “doctor of Philosophy” these words, applied to the same person, create a comic effect;

- “OK, so you hate my guts, but don't break my heart” [7, p. 124]. (Irony) While the former phrase belongs to casual register, the latter one is poetical;

- “Will you kindly take these fucking things off my wrists” [9]. (Irony) The word “kindly” is used in polite forms to ask permissions, the second of the italicized words is a vulgarism. Used within one sentence, they create incongruity;

- “I'm expecting her here at any moment... so I'd obliged to if you would kindly piss off “ [9]. (Irony) Due to the opposition “polite” (“kindly”) vs. “impolite, vulgar” (“piss off”), the sentence acquires the colouring of mockery.

Pragmatics studies how people comprehend and produce a communicative act in a concrete speech situation, analysing the conversation as a social act that involves linguistic, cultural, social etc. knowledge of interlocutors. The fundamental postulate of pragmatics is that sentences may acquire different meanings and perform different functions when placed in a particular context. Sometimes, a contextual change may result in misunderstanding and even in a comic social situation. What is responsible for ambiguity and misunderstanding is the gap between the sense and the form of the utterance [5, p. 39] that leads to the violation of conversational maxims that, according to the cooperative principle, must be followed during a conversation. David Lodge's comic novels abound in cases of comic dialogues to be studied within pragmatics, only a few listed below, with various forms of the comic involved:

- “If a lady sees a man with his fly open, should she tell him?” - “Definitely”. - Your fly is open, mister” [7, p. 29-30]. (Irony) Mary gives Morris a hint before actually telling him what she intends to tell. Thus, she does not formulate her message directly (the manner maxim), creating some ambiguity that disappears only in her second remark, which leads to a comic effect;

- “Er, where is everybody?” Philip stammered. “Everybody gone home,” said the woman. “Oh dear. Is Professor Hogan somewhere? Or Mrs. Hogan?” “Everybody gone home.” “But this is their home, Philip protested” [7, p. 82]. (Humour) Here the comic effect of confusion is produced due to misunderstanding between the cleaning woman and Philip: the information provided by the former is not true since she refers to the Hogans as to guests (the maxim of quality is violated);

- “he taught us a game he claims to have invented, called “Humiliation”. I assured him I was married to the World Champion, but no, he said, this was a game you won by humiliating yourself” [7, p. 135]. (Sarcasm) Having not received enough information about the game (the maxim of quantity is ruined),

Desiree makes an erroneous assumption (maxim of manner) about it, thinking that the game aims at showing the ability to humiliate other people and alludes to her husband;

- “We were at the same party a few weeks ago. I didn't have the opportunity, Mr Boon,” I prattled on, “to tell you how much I hate your show”... “If someone your age liked the show,” he said, “I'd know I'd failed' [7, p. 146]. (Sarcasm) Mr. Boons's response implies that people of Mrs. Zapp's age are probably too old to find his show amusing. The break responsible for the joke occurs due to the opposition between the words “like”: “hate” and “fail”: “succeed” (the last one implied): Boon makes his message implicit, violating the maxim of quality;

- “he wandered round the campus... asking people at random for the Genre Conference without success, until a security guard advised him to go home before he got mugged” [9]. (Sarcasm) The security guard does not give Persse the information he seeks but instead warns him ruining the maxim of relation. The words “before he got mugged” are unexpected and function as a semantic break: the first part of the message creates a peaceful, melancholic mood, while the second one ruins this idyll, bringing the associations of physical force in the figure of a guard;

- “Is he a nice man?” “I think so.... Eccentric, you might say. He had a vest hanging out of his raincoat pocket” [9]. (Irony) Answering his wife's question, Borak provides her with excessive information (maxim of quantity) which, considering the question itself, sounds inappropriate, and a comic effect is produced;

- “You could knock off a paper on the future of criticism, couldn't you?” “I don't think it has much of a future [9]”. (Sarcasm) While Morris is interested in whether Philip is willing to write a paper, the latter does not answer directly; instead, he points out to another issue. The information provided by Philip is irrelevant, thus, he violates the maxim of relation, which creates a comic effect.

Conclusions and Perspectives of the Research. Having classified the extracts (stimuli) drawn from David Lodge's “Campus Trilogy” according to the nature of linguistic items responsible for the comic effect and the extralinguistic factors inseparable from the context of the comic acts we have described the way the particular effect is achieved (resolutions). Indicating the comic form each extract involves (humour, irony, sarcasm) with regard to semantic, discourse, register and pragmatic aspects we have established that the first novel “Changing Places” is mostly ironic and humorous while its sequels - “Small World” and “Nice Work” - tend to acquire more bitter ironic and sarcastic implications being interpreted as comic-satiric novels. The tone of the trilogy on the whole is rather ironic, humour proper and sarcasm yielding twice less comic effects each. The approach to analyzing comic effects suggested above proves indispensable when the comic acts analysed are based on factors which cannot be treated as purely linguistic but savour of some social, psychological factors etc., hence its applicability to other kinds of researches in the realm, including those preoccupied with fiction and comic novels in particular.

Sources and Literature

1. Ëîòîöüêà Ê. Ñòèë³ñòèêà àíãë³éñüêî¿ ìîâè: íàâ÷. ïîñ³á. / Ê. Ëîòîöüêà. - Ëüâ³â: ËÍÓ ³ì. ². Ôðàíêà, 2008. - 253 ñ.

2. Chiaro D. Translation, Humour and Literature / D. Chiaro. - London; New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2010. - 230 p.

3. Maltzev V. A. An Introduction to Lingustic Poetics / V. A. Maltsev. - Ìèíñê: Âûøåéø. øê., 1980. - 240 ñ.

4. Raskin V. Semantic mechanism of humour / V. Raskin. - Dordrecht: D. Reidel Publishing Co., 1985. - 284 p.

5. Ross A. The Language of Humour / A. Ross. - London and New York: Routledge, 1998. - 128 p.

6. Simpson P. On the Discourse of Satire / P. Simpson. - Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Co., 2003. - 242 p.

Illustrative Material

1. Lodge D. Changing Places. A Tale of Two Campuses / David Lodge. - London: Penguin Books, 1978. - 256 p.

2. Lodge D. Nice Work / David Lodge. - London: Penguin Books, 1989. - 384 p.

3. Lodge D. Small World. An Academic Romance / David Lodge. - London: Penguin Books, 1985. - 340 p.

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