Parataxis (from Greek for 'act of placing side by side'; fr. para, beside + tassein, to arrange; contrasted to syntaxis) is a literary technique, in writing or speaking, that favors short, simple sentences, often without the use of conjunctions. It is a style much favoured by historians and writers of crime fiction. Look up parataxis in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Syntaxis (contrasted to parataxis) is a writing or rhetorical style that favors complex syntax, as against simple sentence structures. ... A literary technique or literary device may be used in works of literature in order to produce a specific effect on the reader. ... In linguistics, a sentence is a unit of language, characterized in most languages by the presence of a finite verb. ... A historian is an individual who studies history and who writes on history. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with mystery_fiction. ...

It is also used to describe a technique in poetry in which two images or fragments, usually starkly dissimilar images or fragments, are juxtaposed without a clear connection. Readers are then left to make their own connections implied by the paratactic syntax. Ezra Pound, in his adaptation of Chinese and Japanese poetry, made the stark juxtaposition of images an important part of English language poetry. Parataxis in grammar refers to placing together sentences, clauses or phrases without conjunctions. ... Ezra Pound in 1913. ...

Examples

Perhaps the most well known use of parataxis is Julius Caesar's famous quote, "Veni; vidi; vici," or, "I came; I saw; I conquered".

An extreme example of parataxis is the immortal Mr. Jingle's speech in Chapter 2 of The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, better known as The Pickwick Papers, is the first novel by Charles Dickens. ... “Dickens” redirects here. ...

'Come along, then,' said he of the green coat, lugging Mr. Pickwick after him by main force, and talking the whole way. 'Here, No. 924, take your fare, and take yourself off—respectable gentleman—know him well—none of your nonsense—this way, sir—where's your friends?—all a mistake, I see—never mind—accidents will happen—best regulated families—never say die—down upon your luck—Pull him UP—Put that in his pipe—like the flavour—damned rascals.' And with a lengthened string of similar broken sentences, delivered with extraordinary volubility, the stranger led the way to the traveller's waiting-room, whither he was closely followed by Mr. Pickwick and his disciples.

Perhaps an even more extreme proponent of the form was Samuel Beckett. The opening to his monologue "Not I" is a classic example: Samuel Barclay Beckett (13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish dramatist, novelist and poet. ...

" . out . . . into this world . . . this world . . . tiny little thing . . . before its time . . . in a godfor– . . . what? . . girl? . . yes . . . tiny little girl . . . into this . . . out into this . . . before her time . . . godforsaken hole called . . . called . . . no matter . . . parents unknown . . . unheard of . . . he having vanished . . . thin air . . . no sooner buttoned up his breeches . . . she similarly . . . eight months later . . . almost to the tick . . . so no love . . . spared that . . . no love such as normally vented on the . . . speechless infant . . . in the home . . . no . . . nor indeed for that matter any of any kind . . . no love of any kind . . . at any subsequent stage" and so on.

Although the use of ellipses here arguably prevents it from being seen as a classic example of parataxis, as a spoken text it operates in precisely that way. Other examples by Beckett would include large chunks of Lucky's famous speech in Waiting for Godot. Waiting for Godot is a play by Samuel Beckett. ...

it means lots of taxis

References