SOLVING TEXTUAL INCONSISTENCIES: A CASE STUDY OF COHERENCE IN THE SHORT STORY “CLAP HANDS, HERE COMES CHARLIE” BY BERYL BAINBRIDGE

Abstract

The present article deals with the concept of coherence as a pragmatically determined quality of text production and reception. It presents the analysis of coherence manifestation in the short story “Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie” by B. Bainbridge focusing on the structural and discoursal elements that preclude the unity of the narrative. It considers the peculiarities of the etic opening, the interference of the main line and subsidiary lines of the narrative, and the dramatic irony and their impact on the linear development of the narrative. In addition, the manifestations of different forms of discourse which function as markers of distinct narratorial or character viewpoints are commented on with a view to determining the reader’s degree of interpretative cooperation in completing the blanks and solving the indeterminacies.