How to Apply Critical Linguistics in English/Persian Literary Works’ Criticism

Abstract

Selecting the most appropriate technique of literary criticism as decoding approach of meaning clarification which best match various types of literary pieces has occupied the minds of literary critics in recent decades. Stylistics as an instrument for analyzing literary texts seems to grasp the critics’ attentions and has proven itself as a powerful linguistic means of implicature derivation. This article attempted to depict how the knowledge of linguistic intricacies can affect the reader’s interpretation and help literary critics illuminate the unexplored literary corners of literary works. Furthermore, it is also claimed that attention to these underlying linguistic intricacies brings about a better understanding for the reader either consciously or unconsciously. Accordingly, three linguistically-inspired approaches (semantic technique linguistic technique and formal technique) for literary analysis are described and focused. Related concepts such as the role of context and literary intuition, “howness” of entering to the text and the boundary of literariness are discussed throughout the paper. Finally, in order to illustrate the fact that these linguistically-inspired techniques are not language or literature dependent, few practical examples of such analyses are presented for English and Persian literary pieces.