A cognitive-stylistic response to contradictions

Abstract

Teske’s paper places structuralist emphasis on the meaningfulness of contradictions and explores how these contradictions may affect readers’ processes of interpretation in postmodern fiction. While I agree with Teske’s analysis of the function of contradictions in the experience of reading postmodern fiction, I introduce a cognitive-stylistic perspective which complements Teske’s structuralist exploration of contradictions. I provide a linguistic analysis of a passage from The Unconsoled to demonstrate the usefulness of this complementary approach. I also consider how drawing on theoretical elements from cognitive stylistics as well as empirical approaches such as reader response may be useful in expanding Teske’s innovative analysis of contradictions.