Pragmatic literary stylistics

This book 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.