Towards a cultural approach to stylistics

Abstract

This paper discusses the different approaches to stylistics, here regarded as the cutting edge in literary-linguistic enquiry, and presents the possible benefits of a contextualized stylistics to the teaching of literature. Starting from the assumption that stylistics is a very troubled and slippery concept, it points out how the different linguistic approaches to the literary text have moved from universals and microlinguistic observations to the study of context and its influence in the way people behave, speak and communicate. The main objective of this paper is to argue that stylistics can sit very comfortably between language and literature, contribute to the understanding of the text as cultural praxis, and thus work as a bridge between cultural, literary and linguistic studies. To support this argument, some of the different lights under which stylistics has been seen are discussed. The paper concludes by offering a theoretical model which may help describe a contextualized pedagogical stylistics. KEY WORDS Stylistics, cultural studies, literary awareness, pedagogy.

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