Locations and objects as cues in interpretation of dramatic text (based on “An Inspector Calls” by J. B. Priestley)

Abstract

We examine locations and objects, and their role in interpretation of An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestley from the perspective of Text World Theory by P. Worth and J. Gavins. The theory seeks to clarify how people create mental representations of discourse – text-worlds. Such mental representations require the presence of several elements in the text: world-builders (time, location, characters/enactors, objects), relational processes that identify worldbuilders and describe relations among them, function-advancing propositions which indicate events/actions/states. World-switches are caused by changes in spatiotemporal parameters; modal-worlds, by changes in protagonist perspective. Following T. Cruickshank and E. Lahey’s approach within Text World Theory’s tradition to better account for the discourse of drama, we discuss the play-text of An Inspector Calls from two co-dependent readerly perspectives: the fictional world, which is realized through character dialogue and stage directions; and the staged world, which arises from stage directions. Analysis of locations and objects as world-builders, appropriate relational processes, and function-advancing propositions in J. B. Priestley’s play-text brings about the following conclusions: (i) linguistic cues for identifying locations/objects in stage directions and in character dialogues complement or overlap each other; (ii) the action in the play is set in the early 20th century; therefore locations and objects are a factor in creating relevant cognitive representations of the sociocultural context in the minds of today’s readers; (iii) the world-builders analysed cause world-switches that take readers beyond the boundaries of the staged world; (iv) they have potential for advancing the action; (v) they enable readers to interpret the characters and some particular themes of An Inspector Calls.