This module introduces stylistics as an approach to the study of literary and other creative texts. Stylistics focuses in close detail on language in order to ask questions about how those texts work and what it is that makes them distinctive or effective. The module explores a wide range of texts – poems, novels, plays, advertising, television – and encourages students to make use of a set of stylistic tools to help understand the workings of those texts. For example, by paying attention to word choice, we might see how an author encourages readers to feel that they are 'seeing' the world from a particular character's point of view. Or, by paying attention to conversational turn-taking patterns, we might come to understand how viewers of a police drama get the impression that an interaction is not going well for the suspect. In short, the module aims to equip students with a set of analytical tools that they can use to make sense of texts and their meanings.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module students should be able to:
Demonstrate an understanding of key stylistic concepts, such as style, point of view, and narrative.
Apply linguistic knowledge to the analysis of creative/literary texts from a range of genres and time periods.
Undertake and present their own original stylistic analyses of creative texts.
Reflect on and engage with theoretical debates on the usefulness of stylistic approaches as a way of approaching literary texts.