Sponsored by PALA

We are pleased to announce that registration is now open for this free symposium! If you would like to attend this exciting day, please register for free by filling out the RSVP form.

Programme of events

What is it about?

The reader at the heart of stylistics is a contentious concept. In narratology and semiotics theoretical readers abound, from the perfect reader, superreader, implied, ideal and model reader to interpretive communities and ghosts. As stylistics has evolved, the influence of cognitive and corpus methodologies has prompted discussion of an empiricised reader, while in cognitive poetics a concern for the ‘real reader’ is viewed as central to the effective analysis of literary texts. These different types of reader raise serious questions for the theory and practice of stylistics. Do all of these readers exist? More importantly perhaps, how do we get at them?

This symposium addresses the methods and assumptions of research that deals with theoretical, empirical and real readers, and the bearing these may have on subsequent analytical practice. It aims to explore questions such as: What are the relative merits of speculative and empirical accounts? Is stylistic practice enriched or overcrowded by the co-existence of differently conceived readers? How successful are emergent analytic methodologies in accessing the interpretations and experiences of readers?

Please note that the abstract submission has now passed, but we welcome delegates who wish to attend without presenting a paper.

The programme and further details will be available shortly. In the meantime we look forward to meeting you in June!

The Stylistics & Discourse Analysis Reading Group.