The Taming of the Text Explorations in Language, Literature and Culture Routledge Library Editions: Literary Theory Series

The contributors of this text, first published in 1988, provide a dynamic view of the social functioning of texts, taking account of linguistic, literary and cultural elements. They bring together innovative perspectives on literary analysis and theory, on pragmatics and discourse analysis, as well as on text linguistics and reception theory. Various text types are examined, and the editor introduces each chapter in order to draw them all together to make a fascinating and cohesive whole.

Acknowledgements; Introduction; Part 1: Type and Theory; 1. Conventions of Representation: Where Discourse and Ideology Meet Mary Louise Pratt 2. A Pragmatic Approach to Ballad Dialogue Dick Leith 3. Speech Presentation, the Novel and the Press Michael Short 4. Newspaper Style and Nazi Propaganda: The ‘Weekly Mirror’, in the German Newspaper in the Netherlands Christoph Sauer 5. Romeo and Juliet: The Language of Tragedy Kiernan Ryan; Part 2: Models and Methods; 6. Styles as Parameters in Text Strategy Nils Erik Enkvist 7. Intercultural Writing: A Pragmatic Analysis of Style Ludger Hoffman 8. Back to the Future: Bakhtin, Stylistics and Discourse Kathleen Wales 9. Heteroglossia in the Poetry of Bertolt Brecht and Tony Harrison Helga Geyer-Ryan; Part 3: Form and Interpretation; 10. Discourse and Drama: King Lear’s ‘Question’ to His Daughters William Downes 11. Poetic Discourse: A Sample Example John Sinclair 12. What is a Poem? James Thorne 13. The Reader’s Need for Conventions: When is a Mushroom Not a Mushroom? Irene R. Fairley 14. What Happens in ‘Whatever Happened?’? Grahame Trengove; Name Index; Subject Index