Discours indirect libre

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In French writing, discours indirect libre (free, indirect speech) is a style where characters' thoughts and feelings are written in the third person, but without an explicit introduction such as "he thought". It is notable for the ambiguity of whether it is the character or the narrator expressing the thought.

Contents 1 Construction 2 Effect 3 Comparison 4 Sources

[edit] Construction

The distinctive feature of the form is the lack of an introductory verb: the subordinate proposition containing the comment is found without a principal proposition. Hence, the comment becomes the principal proposition. As quotation marks are not used, the speaker is not identified explicitly.

[edit] Effect

In discours indirect libre, the voice of the character and that of the narrator are effectively intermingled, blurring the distinction between the two.

For example:

Le professeur se mit alors en colère. Il ne supportait plus la paresse de son élève. Il finirait par ne plus s'en occuper si celui-ci trouvait sans arrêt des excuses pour ne pas faire ses devoirs…

So the teacher became angry. He could no longer tolerate the laziness of his pupil. He would soon dismiss him if he kept finding excuses not to do his homeork.…

Il met bas son fagot, il songe à son malheur. / Quel plaisir a-t-il eu depuis qu'il est au monde ? (Jean de La Fontaine - La Mort et le Bûcheron)

He put down his bundle, and reflected on his misfortune. / What pleasure had he had since coming into this world?

The underlined passages are in discours indirect libre.

This style is distinct from discours indirect and discours direct, but retains some advantages of both. It can be characterised as such even without context by the lack of linguistic marking. Frequent ambiguity is thus to be expected.

[edit] Comparison

The different styles:

Discours indirect lié:

Il met bas son fagot, il songe à son malheur. / Il se demande quel plaisir il a eu depuis qu'il est au monde.

Discours direct lié:

Il met bas son fagot, il songe à son malheur : / « Quel plaisir ai-je eu depuis que je suis au monde ? » se demande-t-il.

Discours direct libre:

Il met bas son fagot, il songe à son malheur. / Quel plaisir ai-je eu depuis que je suis au monde ?

[edit] Sources

This article incorporates text translated from the corresponding French Wikipedia article as of 10 Dec 2007.