Style and Tone
Style relates to an author’s use of vocabulary, level
of diction, sentence structure, arrangement of
ideas. It is “a combination of two elements: the
idea to be expressed and the individuality of the
author” (“Style” 487).
Tone shows the author’s attitude toward his or her
subject. A tone might be “formal, informal,
intimate, solemn, sombre, playful, serious, ironic,
condescending” (“Tone” 503).
Editors Kennedy and Gioia suggest that “One of
the clearest indications of tone in a story is the
style in which it is written” (139).
Examples of Style
French writer Raymond Queneau published one of the
greatest works on style in 1947 in his amusing book,
Exercises in Style.
No lesson I can think of can give a better idea of what style is
than Queneau’s own examples might do. In his book, he
begins with a simple story and then rewrites the story 99
times, using a different style each time.
Queneau’s original story
“On a crowded bus at midday, Raymond Queneau observes
one man accusing another of jostling him deliberately.
When a seat is vacated, the first man appropriates it. Later,
in another part of town, Queneau sees the man being
advised by a friend to sew another button on his overcoat”
(Queneau cover blurb).
Here follow several examples of Queneau’s 1947 exercises in
style, as brilliantly translated by Barbara Wright in 1958.
Notation
“In the S bus, in the rush hour. A chap of about 26, felt hat
with a cord instead of a ribbon, neck too long, as if
someone’s been having a tug-of-war with it. People getting
off. The chap in question gets annoyed with one of the men
standing next to him. He accuses him of jostling him every
time anyone goes past. A snivelling tone which is meant to
be aggreeeive. When he sees a vacant seat he throws
himself on to it.
Two hours later. I meet him in the Cour de Rome, in front
of the gare Saint-Lazare. He’s with a friend who’s saying:
‘You ought to get an extra button put on your overcoat.’ He
shows him where (at the lapels) and why” (19-20).
Precision
“In a bus of the S-line, 10 metres long, 3 wide, 6 high, at 3 km.
600 m. from its starting point, loaded with 48 people, at 12.17
p.m., a person of the masculine sex aged 27 years 3 months and
8 days, 1m. 72 cm. tall and weighing 65 kg. and wearing a hat
35 cm. in height round the crown of which was a ribbon 60 cm.
long, interpellated a man aged 48 years 4 months and 3 days, 1
m. 68 cm. tall and weighing 77 kg., by means of 14 words
whose enunciation lasted 5 seconds and which alluded to some
involuntary displacements of from 15 to 20 mm. Then he went
and sat down about 1 m. 10 cm. away.
57 minutes later he was 10 metres away from the suburban
entrance to the gare Saint-Lazare and was walking up and down
over a distance of 30 m. with a friend aged 28, 1 m. 70 cm. tall
and weighing 71 kg. who advised him in 15 words to move by 5
cm. in the direction of the zenith a button which was 3 cm. in
diameter” (37-38).
Passive*
“It was midday. The bus was being got into by passengers. They were
being squashed together. A hat was being worn on the head of a young
gentleman, which hat was encircled by a plait and not by a ribbon. A
long neck was one of the characteristics of the young gentleman. The
man standing next to him was being grumbled at by the latter because
of the jostling which was being inflicted on him by him. As soon as a
vacant seat was espied by the young gentleman it was made the object
of his precipitate movements and it became sat down upon.
The young gentleman was later seen by me in front of the gare SaintLazare. He was clothed in an overcoat and was having a remark made
to him by a friend who happened to be there to the effect that it was
necessary to have an extra button put on it” (72-73).
* Passive voice is created by combining any form of the verb
to be + the past participle of a verb: The gentleman was seen.
Probabilist
“ The contacts between inhabitants of a large town are so numerous that one can
hardly be surprised if there occasionally occurs between them a certain amount
of friction which generally speaking is of no consequence. It so happened that
I was recently present at one of these unmannerly encounters which generally
take place in the vehicles intended for the transport of passengers in the
Parisian region in the rush hours. There is not in any case anything astonishing
in the fact that I was a witness of this encounter because I frequently travel in
this fashion. On the day in question the incident was of the lowest order, but
my attention was especially attracted by the physical aspect and the headgear
of one of the protagonists of this miniature drama. This was a man who was
still young, but whose neck was of a length which was probably above the
average and whose hat-ribbon had been replaced by a plaited cord. Curiously
enough I saw him again two hours later engaged in listening to some advice of
a sartorial order which was being given to him by a friend in the company of
whom he was walking up and down, rather nonchalantly I should have said.
There was not much likelihood now that a third encounter would take place,
and the fact is that from that day to this I have never seen the young man
again, in conformity with the established laws of probability” (184-185).
Telegraphic
“BUS CROWDED STOP YNGMAN LONGNECK
PLAITENCIRCLED HAT APOSTROPHISES
UNKNOWN PASSENGER UNAPPARENT REASON
STOP QUERY FINGERS FEET HURT CONTACT HEEL
ALLEGED PURPOSELY STOP YNGMAN ABANDONS
DISCUSSION PROVACANT SEAT STOP 1400 HOURS
PLACE ROME YNGMAN LISTENS SARTORIAL
ADVICE FRIEND STOP MOVE BUTTON STOP
SIGNED ARCTURUS” (123).
Surprises
“How tightly packed we were on that bus platform! And
how stupid and ridiculous that young man looked! And
what was he doing? Well, if he wasn’t actually trying to
pick a quarrel with a chap who—so he claimed! The young
fop! kept on pushing him! And then he didn’t find anything
better to do than to rush off and grab a seat which had
become free! Instead of leaving it for a lady!
Two hours after, guess whom I met in front of the gare
Saint-Lazare! The same fancy-pants! Being given some
sartorial advice! By a friend!
You’d never believe it!” (26)
Gastronomical
“After slowly roasting in the browned butter of the sun I finally
managed to get into a pistachio bus which was crawling with
customers as an overripe cheese crawls with maggots. Having
paid my far, I noticed among all these noodles a poor fish with a
neck as long as a stick of celery and a loaf surmounted by a
ridiculous donkey’s dinner. This unsavory character started to
beef because a chap was pounding the joints of his cheeses to
pulp. But when he found that he had bitten off more than he
could chew, he quailed like a lily-livered dunghill-cock and
bolted off to stew in his own juice.
I was digesting my lunch going back in the bus when I saw this
half-baked individual in front of the buffet of the gare SaintLazare with a chap of his own kidney who was giving him the
fruit of his experience on the subject of garnishing his coating,
with particular reference to a cheese plate” (177-178).
Retrograde
“You ought to put another button on your overcoat, his
friend told him. I met him in the middle of the Cour de
Rome, after having left him rushing avidly towards a seat.
He had just protested against being pushed by another
passenger who, he said, was jostling him every time
anyone got off. This scraggy young man was the wearer of
a ridiculous hat. This took place on the platform of an S
bus which was full that particular midday” (25).
You Know
“Well, you know, the bus arrived, so, you know, I got on.
Then I saw, you know, a citizen who, you know, caught my
eye, sort of. I mean, you know, I saw his long neck and I
saw the plait round his hat. Then he started to, you know,
rave, at the chap next to him. He was, you know, treading
on his toes. Then he went and, you know, sat down.
Well, you know, later on, I saw him in the Cour de Rome.
He was with a, you know, pal, and he was telling him, you
know, the pal was: ‘You ought to get another button put on
your coat.’ You know” (85).
Haiku
“Summer S long neck
plait hat toes abuse retreat
station button friend” (139)
Recognizing Style
Queneau’s examples show a few of the choices writers
have for expression of ideas. The style of each author is
distinctive. Even we amateurs have styles of our own. We
may write more formally to a stranger, more casually to a
friend, for example. We may prefer some words and
carefully avoid others. We may opt for special sentence
structures (as I just did with the three parallel sentences
above beginning “We may.”) Each writer establishes his or
her own manner of expression. Some writers are so unique
that their writing is almost instantly recognized, just as the
symphony of a particular composer might be.
Parody of Style
For several years now, amateurs have been encouraged to
enter contests parodying the style of particular writers.
Two easily imitated writers, because each has such a
distinctive style, are William Faulkner and Ernest
Hemingway. Here follow two examples from contest
winners:
William Faulkner
Pile On
Knowing knows before hearing hears, recollection exudes from the congealed
entanglement, emasculate in the indomitable odor of mansweat; remembering
before knowing; hands splayed on bended knees, semicrouched in rapt
immobility, forwardleaning into the ponderous nocturnal autumn air, in furious
anticipation of arrested inertia, incipient savagery, luminous in the brooding
dusk-dark; forwardmoving preemptorily with the sound, an inviolate sonorous
command, refusing abnegation, compelling allegiance, doomed in the
primordial obdurate masculinity; receiving the thrusted leather oblong nottrophy, neither chalice, but rather palpable symbol of insatiable honor,
impregnable, invincible but ephemeral; viscera thrusted, arms engulfing as a
lover's embrace, but futile; forwardmoving with escalating fury inexorably
toward the armor-clad foe, nonapparitional, voracious, implacable, intractable,
incorrigible, and girded for the assault in resplendent triumph; arrested in
stark, abrupt and utter abrogation of motion, profound dissolution, sudden and
complete; and now cohered with the hard, immutable earth; with the penetrant
whistling infiltrating through the laboriously unlimbering extrication of virile
man-flesh to the abject fury of disembodied surrender; and then, with resolute,
authoritative finality, the hearing: "second down."
-- Robin Blake, Winner of the 1998 “Faux Faulkner” contest
Ernest Hemingway
TWO AND A HALF STARS
Inside Harry's Bar & American Grill I shook the rain off the way a dog would
shake the rain off if dogs were allowed inside Harry's Bar & American Grill, or
if I allowed myself the use of metaphor. But they do not, and I do not, and this
one must have been a stray.
The place was crowded and full of smoke and people smoking. At the bar three
men in uniform were linking arms and singing war songs, and the air was thick
with the smell of wet leather - or else Harry had hired a new chef. The men
were boys, really, too young to remember old wards and too short to ever think
that their knees could be targets and not just something to sit on and lap dance.
The place was crowded and there were no empty tables. A forceful looking girl sat
alone at a table near the kitchen. . . .
"May I join you?" I asked the forceful girl.
"Only if you are famous," the forceful girl said.
"I am a well-known food critic," I said. "I am here to review the food for the Star."
"Kansas City or Toronto?"
"I do not remember, but that's not important. What is important is the atmosphere,
and I give it three stars."
"Not four?"
Hemingway continued
"No, there are tourists here, and they are not aficionados. Let us order wine now,
and appetizers, and Pasta Fatta in Casa, and wine."
"You already said wine."
"You can never have enough wine."
Soon a waiter came, and though he was clearly troubled by nada he asked what we
would have. I told him, and the forceful girl said she was fully capable of
ordering by herself. Then there was a shout and the singing stopped and the
smoking stopped. "Get down," I told the forceful girl. She struggled, but I held
her down for her own good. It was going to be bad. The tourist with the flit
gun had made the mistake of squirting the oldest waiter, the one who had gone
84 days now without getting a tip. I got down on the floor beside the forceful
girl. Everyone in the room waited to see what would happen. Suddenly our
waiter appeared. "I am so sorry," he said. "We are all out of Pasta Fatta in
Casa. Would you care to order something else?"
"No," I said, and removed another half star from my notebook. "Kansas City or
Toronto?" the forceful girl asked.
"It does not matter. Especially now," I said.
-- James Plath, Harry’s Bar & American Grill 1999 Hemingway Imitation Contest
Writing about Style and Tone
Style conveys an author’s tone, or attitude
toward the characters and events of a story.
The two are inextricably linked. In writing
about style, consider diction (word choice),
sentence structure -- pattern and length -punctuation, imagery, sound, or figures of
speech.
Tone conveys the author’s feelings. How
might an author’s style, then, show tone?
Works Cited
Kennedy, X. J. and Dana Gioia, eds. Literature: An Introduction to
Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. New York: Longman, 1999. 137-141.
Plath, James.
Queneau, Raymond. Exercises in Style. Barbara Wright, trans. New York:
New Directions, 1981.
“Style.” A Handbook to Literature. Holman, C. Hugh and William
Harmon, eds. New York: MacMillan, 1986.
CREDITS
 Developed and prepared by Dr. Linda
Lovell
 NorthWest Arkansas Community
College
 http://faculty.nwacc.edu/ljlovell