Tourists by Nancy MitfordFrom The Water Beetle, 1962

Course Title: Writing Prose

Instructor: Liu Hongyong

2008-2009, 2nd term

Do you like traveling? Why or why not? What is the purpose of a tourist?

for knowledge or culture;

for sightseeing pleasure;

for relaxation;

for seeking novelties;

for showing-off of their having physically been to places;

for no purpose.

Warming Up

What are the advantages and disadvantages for a tourist attraction?

Economy (hotel, restaurant, shop, entertainment, transportation);

new idea; new life-style…

pollution (air, sound, litter); being materialistic (greedy for possession, cunning and

dishonest, turning tourist attractions into a stage setting up for cheap shows )…

Warming Up

Born: November 28,1904, London, England.

Died: January 30,1973 (aged 68), Versailles, France.

Occupation: novelist, biographer.

Nancy Mitford(1904–1973)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Mitford

Life Experience Born and brough up in London. Moved to Paris at the end of the Second World Wa

r and later to Versailles in1967. A well-known public person, invariably elegantly d

ressed, lived a busy social and literary life, had a huge number of friends, traveled frequently to country houses in England, Ireland and France as well as annual visits to Venice.

Nancy Mitford(1904–1973)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Mitford

Style She had a particular "Mitford" bra

nd of humour which became very well known through her novels and newspaper articles and attracted a cult following.

Her novels,letters, articles and essays are notable for their humour, irony, and cultural and social breadth.

Nancy Mitford(1904–1973)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Mitford

Genre She is best remembered for her

series of novels about upper-class life in England and France, particularly the four published after 1945

Nancy Mitford(1904–1973)

Highland Fling (1931). Christmas Pudding (1932). Wigs on the Green (1935). Pigeon Pie (1940). The Pursuit of Love (1945). Love in a Cold Climate

(1949). The Blessing (1951).

Her Major Works

Madame de Pompadour (1954). Voltaire in Love (1957). Don't Tell Alfred (1960). The Water Beetle (1962). The Sun King (1966). Frederick the Great (1970).

What is the topic sentence of this paragraph?

Torcello which used to be lonely as a cloud has recently become an outing from Venice.

Paragraph I

What is the first part of this paragraph (lines 1-10) about?

A brief description of Torcello.

Paragraph I

How does the author describe Torcello? minute island; Venetian lagoon; vineyards and wild flowers; cottages; cathedral; canals; sails; campanile (bell-tower).

Paragraph I

Vineyards and Flowers

Paragraph I

Paragraph I

Cottages

Cathedral

Paragraph I

Paragraph I Campanile

Canals

Paragraph I

（ William the Conqueror ） (1027-1087)

（ sail ）

What impression do you get from the author’s description about Torcello?

Torcello used to be a peaceful and beautiful island. But now its beauty is being ruined by the pouring tourists.

Paragraph I

What is the second part of this paragraph (lines 11-35) about?

A description of the tourists.

What is the author’s attitude toward the tourists? Please find out some evidence.

Dislikes, criticizes, complains.

Paragraph I

Many more visitors than it can comfortably hold pour into it;

All day they amble up the tow-path, looking for what;

Probably not one in ten of the visitors has an acquired taste;

They wander into the church and look round aimlessly;

Paragraph I

They come out on to the village green and photograph each other in the throne of Attila;

They relentlessly tear at the wild roses and throw them into the canal;

They leave the devil of a mess behind them; The tourists are almost incredibly mean, they hardly

leave anything on the island except empty cigarette boxes and flapping Daily Mails.

Paragraph I

What is the modern tourists in the author’s eyes? Give an analysis of the tourists as depicted by the author.

The modern tourists are the travelers who 1) often intrude upon people’s privacy;2) seek novelties and takes pride in the fact of having

physically been to places;3) lack tastes and purpose;4) are ignorant and rude;5) ruin the environment; 6) look for culture or education.

Paragraph I

What is the author’s attitude towards the American, British and German tourists?

Generally, he dislikes the American, British and German tourists.

From the tone, we can see a little bit difference of his attitude. He shows a little bit neutral attitude to American tourists, negative to British and positive to German.

Paragraph I

Why is Leader capitalized? Which adjectives would you like to use for the German tourists?

Germans are used to having a leader in doing anything as was established by Hitler who was called “Fuhrer”, meaning “leader”.

Tidy, disciplined, boring.

Paragraph I

Translate the following sentence into Chinese. Many more visitors than it can comfortably hold

pour into it [Torcello], off the regular steamers, off chartered motor-boats, and off yachts (lines 13-15).

大批游客涌进托塞罗岛，人数远远超过它能应付自如地接纳的限度。有的搭乘定时汽船，有的乘租赁的摩托艇，有的乘帆船。

Paragraph I

Mosaics

Paragraph I

Paragraph I

Byzantine Art

Byzantine Arthttp://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/b/byzantine.html

 Byzantine art - The art of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Christian empire whose capital was Constantinople (now known as Istanbul), which endured from c. 330 CE following the Roman Empire in the east, until it was conquered by the Turks c. 1450.

The term, however, refers more to a style associated with Byzantium than to its area. Byzantine paintings and mosaics are characterized by a rich use of color and figures which seem flat and stiff. The figures also tend to appear to be floating, and to have large eyes. Backgrounds tend to be solidly golden or toned. Intended as religious lessons, they were presented clearly and simply in order to be easily learned. Early Byzantine art is often called "Early Christian art."

Byzantine architects favored the central plan covered by a huge dome.

Madonna (A statue or picture of the Virgin Mary)

Paragraph I

Paragraph I Attila’s Throne (King of the Huns)

What is the topic sentence of this paragraph? What is this paragraph about?

More interesting, however, than the behavior of the tourists is that of the islanders.

A description of the islanders.

Paragraph II

What is the behavior of islanders? The islanders live in public and behave like actors to get financial

benefit. Young men from Burano dress up as gondoliers and ferry the t

ourists from the steamer to the village in sandolos (43-44);Eric pesters everyone to buy the dead bodies of sea-horse painted gold (46-47);

Sweet-faced old women sit at the cottage doors selling postcards and trinkets and lace (48-50);Babies toddle about offering four-leafed clovers and hoping for a tip (55-56); [How special is a four-leafed clover?]

The priest organizes holy processions to coincide with the arrival of the steamer (57-58).

Paragraph II

Paragraph II

Gondolier

Paragraph II

Gondola (sandolo)

Paragraph II

Sea-horse

Paragraph II Four-leafed clover 1st leaf: hope; 2nd leaf: faith; 3rd leaf: love; 4th leaf: luck.

What is the islander in the author’s eyes? Give an analysis of the islanders as depicted by the author.

The islander is a person who is: greedy for possession; cunning and dishonest; seeing tourism the opportunity of making easy money out of

the pollution of their native place; turning tourist attractions into a stage setting for cheap

shows.

Paragraph II

What is the topic sentence of this paragraph? Torcello is itself again.

How does Torcello become itself again? The gondoliers shed their white linen jackets and silly straw hats and go

back to Burano, taking Eric; The sweet old women let the smiles fade from their faces, put away thei

r lace-making pillows, and turn to ordinary activities of village life such as drowning kittens;

The father of the clover babies creeps about on his knees finding four-leafed clover for the next day.

The last boat has gone; The evening reproaches ring out; The moon comes up; The flapping Daily Mails blow into the lagoon.

Paragraph III

Translate the following sentence into Chinese. The evening reproaches ring out, the moon comes u

p, the flapping Daily Mails blow into the lagoon. Torcello is itself again.

晚钟响起了。明月升空，飘荡的《每日邮报》吹到环礁湖里了。托塞罗又恢复了原样。

Paragraph III

Paraphrase the underlined part of the following sentence and find out what the pun is contained in the sentence.

As soon as the last boat has gone, down comes the curtain.

the night is coming. With the last boat and tourist gone, both the

curtains of evening and play come down. In other words, both the day and play are over.

Paragraph III

Is the author a willing researcher of the modern tourists? Why or why not?

No, “it is impossible to avoid them” implies her unwillingness to do that.

Actually, her original purpose was to seek peace and solitude on the island for writing her book. Later, she changed her interest to the study of modern tourists and the natives of the island who sacrifice their land for financial benefit.

Reader and Purpose

What is the author’s purpose of writing this essay?

To express the author’s dislike of the tourists for their behavior on the small island and also the way the islanders receive them.

To criticize, ridicule modern tourism, to expose the irony of modern tourism.

To warn the modern tourists.

Reader and Purpose

Make an outline of the selection, indicating its major parts and at least the primary subdivisions under each of those.

1) Torcello which used to be lonely has recently become an outing from Venice. a) Tocello's location. b) A general view of Tocello. c) Too many visitors pour into it. d) Most of them are ignorant and rude. e) Concrete description of the visitors:

(1) Americans. (2) Englishmen. (3) Germans.

Organization

OrganizationThe Islanders' activities during the daytime:

a) Italians are born actors.

b) The island is a stage.

c) Everyone plays a part.

(1) the young men.

(2) Eric.

(3) the old woman.

(4) the babies.

(5) the priest.

Organization

Torcello becomes itself at night:

(a) the gondoliers.

(b) the old women.

(c) the father of the clover babies.

1. Allowing the facts to speak for themselves. Facts speak louder than opinions. The author is obviously

critical of modern tourists, but she leaves her complaints implicit, simply describing what the visitors do and allowing the facts to speak for themselves.

If she had complained openly it would have been more

offensive and less effective, and as a scholar, such a style is less suitable to her writing. In leaving her complaints implicit, the effect of sublimity is achieved in her writing. Otherwise, her ideas will seem superficial to the reader.

Writing Techniques

Metaphor. A metaphor can effectively organize and unify a

paragraph or even a group of paragraphs. Paragraphs 2 and 3 are unified in part by the running

metaphor which compares the island to a stage set and its inhabitants to actors. What sentences sets up this comparison? Indicate all subsequent words or constructions that continue the metaphor.

Writing Techniques

The third sentence of paragraph 2 "The Italian is a born actor..." sets up this comparison.

"young man...", "Eric....", "Sweet old women....", "The priest ...", "And so the play goes on", and "...down comes the curtain" — all these continue the metaphor.

Writing Techniques

Balanced sentence: While they eat the Leader lectures them through a

megaphone. Parallelism: Many more visitors than it can comfortably hold p

our into it, off the regular steamers, off chartered motor-boats, and off yachts.

Fragment: An utterance that lacks subject or verb or both.

More cries of bouna fortuna.

Writing Techniques

Allusion: An indirect reference to anything the writer feels should be well known in literature, history and the arts.

The phrase “lonely as a cloud” (12) is from a poem by William Wordsworth “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”.

The following is the first stanza of Wordsworth's poem: “I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils, Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”

This kind of allusion can more vividly express the writer's ideas. For example, the allusion “lonely as a cloud” vividly depicts what Torcello used to be so as to give us a remarkable contrast between its past and present.

Writing Techniques

Another quotation “the island is turned into a stage with all the natives playing a part” (42-43) is also an echo from one of Shakespeare's famous plays “As You Like It”.“All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players,They have their exits and their entrances.”

This allusion appropriately and naturally offers a running metaphor effectively expressing the born actor playing a part on the stage, trying their best to get some financial benefit from this state of affairs.

Writing Techniques

Closing by return: (首尾呼应 ) The last sentence "Torcello is itself again" ech

oes with the first part of Paragraph 1, that is, it is a peaceful and quiet island even a little bit mysterious.

It closes by return or returns to beginning.

Writing Techniques

Each of the following sentences is less effective than the original sentences the Author wrote. Why?

1) They wander into the church and aimlessly look around (19-20).In the original, “aimless” is put at the end of the sentence to arouse

our surprise and to emphasize the ignorance of the tourists. So it is effective.

2) They know what they are seeing at least (34).In the original, “at least” is put for emphasis after the subject, thus a

remarkable contrast is seen between the Germans and the other ignorant tourists.

3) The curtain comes down as soon as the last boat has gone (64).The original is an inverted sentence, which is more vivid with its

suspension and end focus.

Sentences

Is there possibly a double meaning in the phrase “much restored” in line 17?

Yes, in the phrase “much restored”, there is a double meaning:

On one hand, the cathedral is decorated with early mosaics which form the scenes from the hell and these mosaics-hell scenes have just been reconstructed.

On the other hand, the cathedral is filled with ignorant tourists whose aimless wandering (indicating the destructiveness and the crowdedness) makes the beautiful scene look like a hell.

Diction