Abstract
In examining some of the English put into the mouths of Chinese women in works of fiction, this paper attempts to address two questions. The first is the whole issue of verisimilitude. The second relates to the use of dialogue in the presentation of character. The two are inevitably interlocked since the writer’s presentation of dialogue is linked to his/her intentions vis-bvis characterization. David Abercrombie writes: Many people believe that spoken prose, as I would call what we normally hear on the stage or screen, is at least not far removed, when well done, from the conversation of real life. Writers of novels are sometimes praised, for ‘naturalistic dialogue’, others such as Miss Ivy Compton Burnett, are criticized because nobody speaks like the characters in their books. But the truth is that nobody speaks at all like the characters in any novel, play, or film. Life would be intolerable if they did, and novels, plays or films would be intolerable if the characters spoke as people do in life. Spoken prose is far more different from conversation than is normally realized. (Abercrombie, 1965, pp. l-9.)
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