The Stylistics of Landscapes, the Landscapes of Stylistics

In treating the topic of the landscapes of stylistics, this book provides a series of chapters which deal not only with physical landscapes but also with social, mental, historical portraits of places, people and society. The chapters demonstrate that all texts project a worldview, even when the content appears to be only a physical description of the external world. The implication is that texts attempt to produce specific effects on the reader determined by the author’s worldview. Contents and effects, (namely mental and emotional states, behaviours), are thus inseparable. Identifying those effects and how they are produced is an eminently cognitive operation. The chapters analyse a variety of linguistic devices and cognitive mechanisms employed in producing the text and accounting for the effects achieved. Though the majority of the chapters have a cognitive basis, a wide range of methodologies are employed, including ecostylistics, offering cutting-edge theoretical approaches teamed up with close reading. A further crucial feature of this collection is the selection of non-canonical texts, ranging from lesser-known texts in English to significant works in languages other than English, all of which are characterised by important social themes, thus emphasising the importance of critical appreciation as a means of self-empowerment.

Zoltan Kovecses, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest:
Landscapes in literary works can be the object of study, and the word landscape can also refer to the many ways of studying them. This wonderful collection of essays demonstrates the multi-faceted nature of human experience with all kinds of landscapes, ranging from the physical environment to the most elusive human sensibilities and emotions. The book also demonstrates the wide variety of approaches that can be taken to making sense of those experiences. Running through and unifying the methodologies is the close analysis of literary texts, coupled with the application of conceptual tools from disciplines, such as pragmatics and cognitive science, essential to making sense of the enormous complexity of meaning in literature. The volume also convinces us that the best stylistic analysis can only be socially responsible, and not just an academic exercise performed by scholars in an ivory tower.