What is Stylistics and What is Not

1. What is Stylistics and What is Not?

2. Decoding stylistics

minimum commentary on the
historical, cultural,
biographical background
Regard the esthetic value of a
text
No judgmental reflections or
talking about preferences and
tastes
Look at the organization of
textual elements to deliver
the author's message
No simple registration of
stylistic devices in the text
Try to explain or decode the
information that may be
hidden

3. Questions

1.
What’s happening? What objects or
people are depicted? What shapes, colors
and techniques are used?
2.
Why? What each of the details means?
3.
What’s the message?

4.

The Toilet of
Venus
by Diego
Velázquez

5.

Rain, Steam
and Speed
by William
Turner

6.

The Great
Wave Off
Kanagawa
by Katsushika
Hokusai

7.

Starry Night
Over the
Rhone by
Vincent Van
Gogh

8. Main principles of analysis

Convergence
Defeated
expectancy
an accumulation
of stylistic devices
promoting the
same idea,
emotion or
motive.
A deviation
from the norm
and
predictability