Comparative Reading: Stylistics as a Method of Literary Studies—Formation and Critique (D05*)

• Subject Area: General and Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies
• Term: from 2021 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 317664947

Comparative readings were fundamental for the emergence of stylistics as a method of literary studies. Stylistic analyses compare texts on an extratextual, intertextual, as well as intratextual level. Whereas the method’s significance has decreased since the 1960s in light of prominent theoretical and methodological debates, stylistics has recently gained renewed attention in the context of the digital humanities. The subproject is investigating the practices of comparing that have informed stylistics and their transformations throughout the 20th century and how far these practices of comparing have changed—for example, through the integration of digital methods.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1288: Practices of comparisons: Ordering and changing the world
• Applicant Institution: Universität Bielefeld
• Project Head: Dr. Elisa Ronzheimer