Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1998. [Vol. 5.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 25)

Studies - László Dányi: Interpretations of Sexuality in William Styron's Sophie's Choice

moral standards is present in the following lines. "Another thing: 1 had been almost beside myself with a sense of lightness of this prospect. Every devoted artist, however impecunious, I felt deserved at least this" (SC 144). When he starts making love with Leslie he tries to calm himself by doing things he thinks is typical of the forties. He does "a certain amount of smooching ... 'bare tit'..." (SC 147). The duality of clinging to the Puritan moral code of the 40s and the liberation of sexual desires is always present in Stingo's life. Language and tongue are also of great importance in Stingo's relationship with Leslie Lapidus. Language means sexuality to Stingo when he hears this name. The T sound implies sex because it is an alveolar and lateral sound, and its formation involves tongue activity. For Stingo, who links almost everything to sex, the tongue is a sexual organ and a speech organ, but the two functions are related to each other as tongue can be used for doing sex and for speaking about sex as well. Thus he expects inexpressible pleasures from Leslie after hearing her name. It also adds something to Stingo's excitement that oral sex was not accepted by the Puritan morals, and doing it meant breaking the rules, doing something forbidden. His expectations are even greater when he hears her speaking about sex. She does not have any inhibitions about language. She stretches out on the sandy beach and "peering into my face with all the unstrained, almond-eyed, heathen-whore-of-BabyIon wantonness T had ever dreamed of, suggested in unbelievably scabrous terms the adventure that awaited me" (SC 148). Regarding sexuality, the impression Leslie has on Stingo goes a little bit beyond his expectations, because she can use her language so freely that he is even shocked. The following observation ironically expresses his astonishment, "Only the fact that I was too young for a coronary occlusion saved my heart, which stopped beating for critical seconds" (SC 148). Stingo and Leslie are connected to language in another way as well. They both have a good command of English because they have majored in English. They can talk about Hart Crane and Walt Whitman, but all these conversations lose their importance when he sees her breasts. The conversation no longer has any meaning to Stingo. It is only meaningless background noise. It is meaningless in the sense that words do not mean as linguistic units. Their significance 44