Stylistics: Retrospect and Prospect (original) (raw)

At the end of this Reader in Language and Literature, it might seem obvious to the nonspecialist that literature, the most culturally valued and aesthetically prestigious form of language practice, is best studied using the resources developed in the field of linguistics. However, this truism has not always been obvious to a wide range of disciplines, all of which claim a different stake in the study of the literary. This situation has also been occasioned in part by the historical baggage accumulated by institutionalised disciplines, out of territorial self-interest, and (it must be said) out of intellectual laziness, as well as legitimate arguments around the validity and scope of linguistics. Stylistics is the discipline that has bridged these areas, and stylisticians have found themselves engaged in arguments not only with literary critics, cultural theorists, philosophers, poets, novelists and dramatists, but also with practitioners of linguistics.