Language, Discourse and Literature by Ronald Carter

Language, Discourse and Literature by Ronald Carter

This collection shows students of English and applied linguistics ways in which language and literary study can be integrated. By drawing on a wide range of texts by mainly British and American writers, from a variety of different periods, the contributors show how discourse stylistics can provide models for the systematic description of, for example, dialogue in fiction; language of drama and balladic poetry; speech presentation; the interactive properties of metre; the communicative context of author/reader. Among the texts examined are novels, poetry and drama by major twentieth-century writers such as Joyce, Auden, Pinter and Hopkins, as well as examples from Shakespeare, Donne and Milton.

Each chapter has a wide range of exercises for practical analysis, an extensive glossary and a comprehensive bibliography with suggestions for further reading. The book will be particularly useful to undergraduate students of English and applied linguistics and advanced students of modern languages or English as a foreign language.

Paul Simpson is the best-selling author of the Rough Guides to Cult Cinema, Elvis Presley, and Lord of the Rings. He was the founding editor of the magazine FourFourTwo. At a pub quiz, he's the kind of guy you'd go to great efforts to have on your side.