ABSTRACT

First published in 1986, Stylistics and Psychology is an empirical investigation into foregrounding.

The theory of foregrounding has received little in the way of empirical testing within the field of stylistics and literary criticism. The book engages extensively with the author’s own research involving psychological testing and provides a rigorous, scientific approach to stylistics. It presents evidence of a general link between foregrounding and evaluation, apparent in correlations between foregrounding and evaluation, between foregrounding and reader preference, and between foregrounding and readers’ evaluative associations.

Stylistics and Psychology will appeal to those with an interest in literary criticism and linguistics.

chapter Chapter One|26 pages

The Theory of Foregrounding: The State of the Art

chapter Chapter Two|29 pages

Design of Validation Procedures

chapter Chapter Three|39 pages

Analyses of the Poems and Predictions Made

chapter Chapter Four|30 pages

The Validity of Foregrounding

chapter Chapter Five|17 pages

Further Refinements: Design of Inductive Procedures

chapter Chapter Six|30 pages

Foregrounding in Text and Reader Response

chapter Chapter Seven|14 pages

General Conclusions and Outlook