Philadelphia University
Faculty of Arts - Department of English
1st Semester, 2010/2012
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Course Syllabus
Course Title: Stylistics
Level: M.A.
Course Code: 120723
Credit Hours: 3
Lecture Time: Sat: 9-12 a.m.
Lecturer's Name: Dr. Abdullatif Al-Khaiat
Rank: Ass. Professor
Office Number: 410
Office Hours: Sun, Tue, Thu: 10-11; Mon, Wed: 11-2:15
Phone: 4799000 Ext: 2608
E-mail: alkhaiat@yahoo.com
Course Coordinator: Dr. Abdullatif Al-Khaiat
Course Description:
This is an interdisciplinary course which deals with some of the ways in which texts,
particularly literary texts, can be examined from a linguistic perspective. Text is the focus
of this course. It will be seen how a text may be handled to examine the specific language
that reflects the determinant elements of the communication: the speaker/ writer; the
recipient (listener/ reader), the occasion which led to producing the text. A text will be
seen to be tightly connected to its context; the meaning is never confined to the text, nor
to the reader; but the reader bears all his/her background as he/she approaches a text, or is
exposed to a text. It will be seen how contextualization came into special focus under the
influence of pragmatics and discourse analysis. Both the textual and contextual factors
will be given attention in the course. Stylistics also exmines the ways and means writers
opt for in the process of producing the text and expressing it in the way they deem to best
serve their purpose.
All such theoretical work will heavily draw on citations from literary texts, both
poetic and prose. In light of the above notions, the students will go on to analyze several
literary texts, poems, shorts stories, etc..
Course Aims:
The central aim of this course is to expose MA students to the analysis of literary texts,
investing their knowledge of linguistics, semantics, rhetoric, and pragmatics in the process of
negotiating a given text and unfolding its message and intention. In this regard , the analysis will
aim at enhancing the student's ability to adopt a qualitative and interpretive approach to
appreciating the writer's / speaker's style and the way he/she has chosen to say what he says in the
way the text presents. In this view, the analysis is not to be undertaken for its own sake - simply
as an exercise in describing what use is made of language - but that study of style aims to explain
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Philadelphia University
Faculty of Arts - Department of English
1st Semester, 2010/2012
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the relationship between language and linguistic function, language structures as chosen by a
particular writer on a particular occasion for a particular audience to convey a particular message.
Thus the domain of STYLISTICS will highlight in the first place the "why" and the "how" more
than the "what" in a given literary text. WHY does the author of a certain literary text choose to
express himself in this particulars way and HOW the lexical and structural Choices he has made
have contributed to realizing his purpose
Teaching Methods:
The course will be delivered in the form of lectures and class discussions. Lectures will provide a
critical view of the theory of the novel and its development, in addition to the major trends in the
modern novels; the same issues will be selected for class discussion. Each week students are
expected to prepare for the lectures and discussions by reading the particular extract of the
theoretical material dealt with in the course. The extracts will form the basis of close discussion
and debate in the classroom. Each student has to effectively contribute by giving presentations
and later by papers on a chosen topic.
Modes of Assessment
Score
Mid-term Exam
Assignments, active class participation and paper
Final Exam
Total
30
30
40
100
Date
8th
week
During course
To be announced later
Course Outline
Week
(1) 2-6 Oct 2011
(2) 9-13 Oct
(3) 16-20 Oct
(4) 23-27 Oct
(5) 30 Oct-3 Nov
(6) 10 Nov
(7) 13-17 Nov
(8) 20-24 Nov
(9) 27 Nov-1 Dec
(10) 4-8 Dec
(11) 11-15 Dec
(12) 18-22 Dec
(13) 26-30 Dec
Material to be covered
Introduction to stylistics
Brief historical overview
Literary text and everyday texts
Textualist stylistics: in poetry
Stylistics in the novel: Perspective, deictics, and representation
Contextualist stylistics
Roman Jakobson and stylistics
Theories of fictional narrative; Genette
MID-TERM EXAM
Pragmatics and discourse: Poetry
Pragmatics and discourse: the novel
Applications: Poety
Applications: Poetry
SUBMIT ESSAY ABOUT THIS TIME
Applications: The short story
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Philadelphia University
Faculty of Arts - Department of English
1st Semester, 2010/2012
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(14) 1-5 Jan 2012
(15) 8-12 Jan
(16) From 15 Jan
Applications: The short story
Applications: The Novel
FINAL EXAM: TO BE ANNOUNCED BY REGISTRATION
Course Components:
TEXTBOOKS
1. Richard Bradford
Stylistics
London and New York: Routledge ; 1997
ISBN: 0415097681
2. Peter Verdnok
Stylistics
Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2002
ISBN: 0194372405
3. Jean Jacques Weber
The Stylistics Reader: From Roman Jakobson to the Present
New York: Arnold
ISBN: 0340646217
Additional reading:
1- Leech,G. and Michael Short (1981) Style in Fiction . London : Longman.
2- Fowler, Roger (1996) Linguistic criticism. London: OUP
3- Short, Mick (1996) . Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays, and prose.
London: Longman
4- Brown,G. and George Yule (1983) . Discourse Analysis. London: OUP.
5- Hynes, John (1995) Style. London : Longman.
6- Mills, S.(1995) Feminist stylistics
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