Proposing a Marxist Stylistics

Located at the interface between Literary Theory and Applied Linguistics/Cultural Studies, this book brokers an encounter between Althusserian Marxist Criticism and Critical Discourse Analysis. Initially, the book reexamines Althusserian Marxist criticism to establish its strong and weak points, and identifies among the latter several problematic and overlapping dichotomies, viz: idealism/materialism; science/ideology; lived/theoretical ideologies; ordinary/literary language; agency/structure and production/reception. The book then crosses over to the field of Critical Discourse Analysis, where it garners relevant theoretical and methodological resources that capable of mediating the problems identified in Althusserian Marxist Criticism. The uppermost outcome is the emergence of a hybrid method of text interpretation, labelled as 'Marxist stylistics,' which is mainly based on Althusserian Marxist Criticism, but which also incorporates salient elements of Critical Discourse Analysis. The unique lineaments of the emergent Marxist Stylistic method are outlined before it is practically applied to the interpretation of at least four fictional texts - all written and set in Zimbabwe.