Metadiscursive reference in personal letter within the novel: a case study

Abstract

This work aims at analyzing metadiscursive reference as an inherent linguistic phenomenon in the personal letter when this genre is represented within another discourse genre, the novel. One of the main features of the personal letter is that it is not achieved in one textual artifact. On the contrary, this genre allows itself a long term duration by means of more than one textual artifact due to the exchange of letters between subjects. Within the epistolary novel, it is letter exchange that acts upon the plot. This work aims at analyzing samples of metadiscursive reference employed by the narrator to keep her interlocutor (the narrator’s own brother) abreast of the Lebanese family that adopted them. One concludes that the personal letter as a discourse genre, when represented within a novel, “demands” metadiscursive reference so that both plot and an atmosphere of reminiscence in the novel may be created.