Contemporary Stylistics

'This is a lively selection of contributions, on a wide range of texts (fiction, plays, and poetry) and drawing on a remarkable diversity of theoretical commitments, from twenty of the most talented newer or younger academics engaged in language-oriented analyses of literature.  Each essay in turn is usefully introduced by an established academic in the same field. This format, in which an older author sponsors a newer one while being given the chance to point out differences of view, lends both a gracious formality and a spirit of collegial dialogism to the collection. For anyone who wants to see what issues and arguments fascinate and inspire some of the exciting new generation of stylisticians, this is an excellent place to look.' -- Michael Toolan, Professor of Applied English Linguistics, University of Birmingham, UK
"The range of texts analysed is excellent, from Dickens to Bridget Jones, and unlike many edited collections in stylistics, the essays do not just analyse novels or poetry; there is a good spread here across literary genres.  The chapters give a real insight into the richness of approaches available today within stylistics research; this book should be required reading on many literary linguistics courses." -- Professor Sarah Mills, Sheffield Hallam University, UK
This project is successful because of several qualities and strengths [including]... the editors' scholarly expertise and proficient management... the cohesive internal structure of the individually-authored chapters... the broadness of genre range and the richness of texts analysed. -- Linguist