Pragmatic Literary Stylistics

Pragmatic Literary Stylistics considers the ways in which current theories of language in use and communicative processes are applied to the analysis, interpretation and definition of literary texts. The contributors draw on a wide range of contemporary pragmatic theories, including relevance theory, Gricean and neo-Gricean theory and politeness theory and utilise a variety of different types and genres of literary text in their analysis, including prose fiction, drama and poetry. An introductory chapter locates the book with respect to the history and current state of the field, and puts forward proposals for future direction. This book offers examples of some of the most important current types of interaction between pragmatics and literary stylistics which sets an agenda for the future of pragmatic literary stylistics and provides a foundation for future research and debate.

Siobhan Chapman is Professor of English at the University of Liverpool, UK. She has previously taught at the Universities of Newcastle and Kent. Her publications include Paul Grice: Philosopher and Linguist, Thinking About Language: Theories of English, Language and Empiricism: After the Vienna Circle, Pragmatics, and Susan Stebbing and the Language of Common Sense.

Billy Clark is Reader in English Language and Linguistics at Middlesex University, having previously taught at Goldsmiths' College London, Oxford and University College London. His research interests are in linguistic semantics, pragmatics and stylistics, recently focusing in particular on prosodic meaning and relevance-theoretic stylistics. His book Relevance Theory was published in 2013.

1. Introduction; Siobhan Chapman and Billy Clark
2. The Art of Repetition in Muriel Spark's Telling; Andrew Caink
3. 'Oh, do let's talk about something else -': What is Not Said and What is Implicated in Elizabeth Bowen's The Last September; Siobhan Chapman
4. Before and After Chekhov: Inferring Literary Interpretations and Literary Value; Billy Clark
5. Outsourcing: A Relevance-theoretic Account of the Interpretation of Theatrical Texts; Anne Furlong
6. Relevance Theory, Syntax and Literary Narrative; Barbara MacMahon
7. Negation, Expectation and Characterisation: Analysing the Role of Negation in Character Construction in To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee 1960) and Stark (Elton 1989); Lisa Nahajec
8. Intertextuality and the Pragmatics of Literary Reading; Maria-Eirini Panagiotidou
9. 'I've never enjoyed hating a book so much in my life'. The Co-construction of Reader Identity in the Reading Group ; David Peplow
10. The Narrative Tease: Narratorial Omniscience, Implicature, and the Making of Sensation in Lady Audley's Secret; Ruth Schuldiner
11. Literary Style as Facework: Dialogue and Deference in Turkish-German Literature; Chantelle Warner