“NONVERBAL MEANS IN LITERARY WORKS”
Abstract
This article examines the role of nonverbal means in 19th and 20th century English literature, focusing on how gestures, facial expressions, silence, spatial distance, touch, and paralinguistic features function as significant narrative tools that reveal character psychology, social hierarchy, and cultural values. By analysing selected works of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, D. H. Lawrence, E. M. Forster, Henry James, and Oscar Wilde, the study demonstrates that nonverbal communication often conveys emotional and thematic meanings that remain beyond the limits of spoken language. The article argues that the literary representation of nonverbal behaviour reflects broader historical changes in social norms, psychological thought, and artistic technique, while also deepening the reader’s understanding of human interaction in fictional discourse.
Keywords
nonverbal communication, English literature, kinesics, proxemics, haptics, paralanguage, silence, facial expression, character psychology, literary discourse.
References
- Austen, J. (1813). Pride and Prejudice. T. Egerton.
- Bronte, C. (1847). Jane Eyre. Smith, Elder & Co.
- Dickens, C. (1861). Great Expectations. Chapman and Hall.
- Ekman, P. (2003). Emotions Revealed: Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and Emotional Life. Times Books.
- Hardy, T. (1891). Tess of the d’Urbervilles. James R. Osgood.
- Hemingway, E. (1927). Men Without Women [incl. 'Hills Like White Elephants']. Charles Scribner’s Sons.
- James, H. (1881). The Portrait of a Lady. Macmillan.
- Lawrence, D. H. (1913). Sons and Lovers. Duckworth.
- Wilde, O. (1890). The Picture of Dorian Gray. Ward, Lock and Company.
- Woolf, V. (1925). Mrs Dalloway. Hogarth Press.
- Anvarbekova, Oydinoy. "HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF PARALINGUISTICS." Академические исследования в современной науке 3.7 (2023): 145-148.