Short description:

This accessible introduction to postcolonial stylistics looks at the shared aims of stylistics and postcolonial studies and illustrates how to apply the analytical and theoretical tools of stylistics to a selection of literary and non-literary texts from a range of English-speaking postcolonial contexts.

Long description:

This accessible introduction to postcolonial stylistics looks at the shared aims of stylistics and postcolonial studies and illustrates how to apply the analytical and theoretical tools of stylistics to a selection of literary and non-literary texts from a range of English-speaking postcolonial contexts.

Structured around the five keywords of Language, Identity, Belonging, History, and Ecology, the book:

• sheds light on the way in which writers from a range of former colonial territories have creatively drawn from such thematic areas to construct complex and committed discourses


• shows how a rigorous linguistic analysis can help reach a better understanding of the rhetorical mechanisms and cultural dynamics operating in these works


• underlines how meaning is generated from the interaction between author, reader, and context; how narratives shape and propagate a specific worldview; and how metaphor can convey social and political values


• expands on each keyword by considering texts of different typology such as fiction, poetry, drama, and non-fiction, accompanied by activities and references


• includes historical and literary postcolonial timelines and an index of names and topics

Comprehensive in its coverage and assuming no prior knowledge of the topics considered, the book adopts an interactive and activity-based approach to develop readers? understanding of linguistic structures and forms through postcolonial texts. Offering a new interdisciplinary perspective, this is essential reading for students new to stylistics and postcolonial literature.

?Postcolonial Stylistics presents the first text book that brings together stylistics and postcolonial studies in one volume and will be of interest to scholars in these fields as well as literature generally. The book is organised into chapters examining key themes such as Style and postcolonial texts, Language, Identity, Belonging, and Ecology, with excerpts from literary texts that actively engage the reader further with questions and discussion points for a deeper understanding of the topic.?

Marina Lambrou, Kingston University, UK

?Esterino Adami builds on the foundational lesson of postcolonial studies?that language is a site of power?to expand how linguists understand language and style. With impressive breadth, this book offers a rare linguistic lens onto postcolonial literature across genres and geopolitical sites. Through five keywords, Esterino Adami presents a lucid and necessary intervention in stylistics and postcolonial studies.?

Akshya Saxena, Vanderbilt University, USA

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction: for a postcolonial stylistics

2. Style and postcolonial texts

3. Language

4. Identity

5. Belonging

6. History

7. Ecology

8. Conclusion

Postcolonial timelines