Can anyone help? I'm working on a short story where I want to write one of the character's speech roughly phonetically. I have a recollection that Kingsley Amis did something like ths in one of his books but can't remember which one. Any ideas? Can you think of any other examples?

Thanks

Could it be Lucky Jim?

Zoe

I was going to say that too, Zoe, but Amazon has a 'see inside' on some copies and I couldn't see anything in the text which looked phonetic.

Are Bertie Wooster or Lord Peter Wimsey phonetic?


- NaomiM



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Or even: Evelyn Waugh's Scoop

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Possibly Sharpe's Porterhouse Blues

I think Wimsey's phonetic only in huntin' shootin' fishin' and so on, not the vowel sounds. Bertie W. is more done with vocabulary and syntax.

Emma

Thanks, everyone. I'll have a look at Lucky Jim.

Hope you're not offended, but why do you want to do this?
I think it's usually possible to convey class/status/even accent by other references. Isn't there a danger that writing too phonetically draws attention to the image of the oddly spelled words on the page, which (IMO) wrenches the imagination from the rich picture the story creates in one's head? I've always assumed most readers prefer to forget the printed words exist, so I try to keep them visually as innocuous as possible. If we learn the character is very well spoken we'll supply the rest. Another danger is that one person's phonetic approximation may not be another's. Ever read "Pygmalion" by Shaw? I found it almost impossible as London accents must have changed and it comes over as Australian!