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In:Practising Stylistics: Essays in Honour of Paul Simpson
Edited by Clara Neary, Simon Statham and Peter Stockwell
[Linguistic Approaches to Literature 45] 2026
► pp. 269–278

Chapter 21: Vignette
Alternating focalisation in Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song

 | University of Liverpool | University of Nottingham
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Abstract
The final vignette in this book is an exploration of focalisation in Prophet Song, the Booker Prize-winning dystopian novel by Irish writer Paul Lynch. Pinpointing three excerpts, Adam demonstrates how a focused stylistic analysis can draw out, align, and enrich overarching literary responses and criticism. Point of view has been a longstanding interest of Paul Simpson, and in this chapter Adam collects some of his early work to deploy her analytical tools. The chapter also shows how a rigorous stylistics can operate in the service of narratological and interpretative concerns. In an interview with former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Lynch asserts that ‘The Trojan horse of this book is it’s taken what you think is the other, and it’s made them you’ (Irvine Times, 2024, n.p.), and this sense of immersion is validated by Adam’s account of the narrative engagement required of a reader.
Article outline
  • Points of view on point of view
  • Stacking the point of view
  • Alternating focalisation and autoscopic reduplication
  • Double vision
  • References
References (20)
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