The overall aim of this book is the application of stylistic theories and frameworks to literary texts for a deeper level of interpretation. For this purpose the author conducted an analysis based upon the concepts of 'polyphony' and 'focalization' of three novels from different literary periods commonly labeled 'Pre-modernism', 'Modernism', and 'Postmodernism', namely, George Eliot's Middlemarch (1871-2), Joseph Conrad's Nostromo (1904), and Saul Bellow's Herzog (1964). Inspired by the work of Russian linguist-philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin the author attempts to clarify stylistically how polyphony is textualized in each novel and how each mode of polyphony reflects less parochial literary and cultural trends.

Autorentext
The Author: Masayuki Teranishi is an associate professor at the School of Human Science and Environment, the University of Hyogo, Japan. He obtained an M.A. in English Literary Studies, and in 2004 a Ph.D. at the University of Leeds. His current interests lie in English stylistics, specifically in the study of prose fiction, cognitive stylistics and pedagogical stylistics.

Inhalt
Contents: 'Pre-modernist', 'Modernist' and 'Postmodernist'? Critical Reviews of Middlemarch, Nostromo and Herzog - Descriptive Framework: The Relation between Polyphony and Focalization - Polyphony and 'Pre-modernism'? A Stylistic Analysis of Middlemarch - A Mode of Polyphony in Nostromo under Modernist Influence - A Stylistic Analysis of Herzog: A Mode of Postmodern Polyphony.