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6. The Collective-Canonic Voice: Quoting the Norm (of Quoting)
- Wayne State University Press
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6 In each epoch, in each social circle, in each small world of family, friends, acquaintances, and comrades in which a human being grows and lives, there are always authoritative utterances that set the tone—artistic, scientific, and journalistic works on which one relies, to which one refers, which are cited, imitated, and followed. Mikhail Bakhtin The most dominant variety of quotations noted in the course of this study has been of a type attributed to a third-person, plural male voice, an attribution that typically included explicit reference to “Israelis” or “Israeli backpackers” as their original animators . This type of quotation indexes the discursive community itself and represents both the backpackers’ own collectivized voice and the community’s authoritative and canonic characteristics. By characterizing this type of quotation as dominant, I address the impression that collective quotations are louder than other voices: the authority conveyed in and through their performance and the way they voice the quintessential tenets of the community grant them a type of dominance—a canonic quality. Admittedly, while the choral (group) voice also represents and produces authoritative utterances , the attribution of which is plural, it is clearly distinct from the collectivecanonic voice. The utterers of the collective’s words are always in the third, and never the first, person, as is the case in the group voice. In addition, animators of collective utterances are never mentioned by their name, and their individuality is not specified in any other way. This feature contrasts with the evocation of the choral voice, which conveys the cohesion of a few previously identified individuals. If the choral voice essentially represents an assembly of recognized individual voices, the collective voice qualitatively stands for more than that: it represents the body of the community—a body that transcends its individuals. Before proceeding to discuss discursive communal authority, it behooves us to consider the following quotation, which nicely illustrates an employment of this voice. In it, Ravit relates her departure from Israel and arrival at Nepal. This took place toward the end of the tourism season, a time that was apparently problematic almost to the point of being taboo. The Collective-Canonic Voice: Quoting the Norm (of Quoting) 103 Chapter 6 104 Ravit:SowhatwasgoodinNepalwasthatwearrivedattheveryendoftheseason thetouristicseason... wearrivedrightinMay (quieter) andwearrivedattheendofMayto (quieter) Nepal (quieter) andwhenalltheisraelis heardthatweareleaving nowtoNepal (quicker,louder) like— “haveyougonecrazy?” and “there’snothingtodothere” and “whyallofasuddennow?” and “[you]can’ttrek and[you]can’tnothing” sowesaidwe’lltakeourchances theyalmostblewthewindoutofoursails butweleftanyhow Ravit commences by stating that traveling off-season is potentially beneficial. Indeed , this is a common touristic theme: in order to avoid the “crowded” and “commercialized ” high season, tourists seek to travel during off-season periods. Ravit thus employs the discourses of time and seasonality in tourism as a resource of narrative drama, to convey her point (Baum and Lundtorp 2001; Cohen 1986). As she conveys the background information (the story’s Labovian orientation [1972]), embedding her story and making resourceful use of themes of backpacking discourse, her words are spoken quietly and slowly, contrasting with the rhythmic and significantly louder tone of the subsequent dramatic words, which include quotations. The excerpt includes five quoted clauses, contained in four reported utterances , all of which are quoted in the name of “Israelis.” Typically, “Israelis” are not specified individually; instead, they are voicedly represented as simultaneously unanimous and anonymous. Within the quotations—and, one should note, only within them—a critical evaluation is expressed with regard to the timing of the trip’s commencement. The impression is that Israelis are not content with the timing of Ravit’s great journey. Ravit implies that the decision of the group in which she is traveling does not conform with the norms of the community, at least not with the norms of seasonality. In the fivefold quotative sequence the first utterance is framed as a question, the second as an exclamation, the third as another question, and the last two as exclamations, thus amounting to a stylized structure of A, B, A’, B’, B’’. The structure is that of a double sequence of a question-answer...
