The Rhetoric of Literary Communication: From Classical English Novels to Contemporary Digital Fiction

This collection explores the evolving relationship between authors and readers in fictional works from 18th-century English novels to contemporary digital fiction, tracing the evolution of the author-reader channel across historical periods, genres, and media. It examines how different forms shape the channel and discusses the shifting ethics of author and reader involvement.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 244 pages
Publication date: 29 January 2024
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Building on the notion of fiction as a communicative act, this collection brings together an interdisciplinary range of scholars to examine the evolving relationship between authors and readers in fictional works from 18th-century English novels to contemporary digital fiction. The book showcases a diverse range of contributions from scholars in stylistics, rhetoric, pragmatics, and literary studies to offer new ways of looking at the author-reader channel, drawing on work from Roger Sell, Jean-Jacques Lecercle, and James Phelan. The volume traces the evolution of its form across historical periods, genres, and media, from its origins in the conversational mode of direct address in 18th-century English novels to the use of second-person narratives in the 20th century through to 21st-century digital fiction with its implicit requirement for reader participation. The book engages in questions of how the author-reader channel is shaped by different forms and how this continues to evolve in emerging contemporary genres, as well as shifting ethics of author and reader involvement.

This book will be of particular interest to students and scholars interested in the intersection of pragmatics, stylistics, and literary studies.

Weight: 453g
Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032199672