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Article published In: Scientific Study of Literature
Vol. 12:1/2 (2022) ► pp.49–82

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Style of creative nonfiction

A multidimensional analysis of literary essays

ORCiD logo with link | Northern Arizona University
Published online: 29 September 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ssol.22002.gra
Abstract
The study examines author style within underlying patterns of variation in nonfiction essays. The study employs corpus linguistic methodology, building on research on style in fiction (Biber, D., & Finegan, E. (1994). Multi-dimensional analyses of authors’ styles: some case studies from the eighteenth century. Research in Humanities Computing, 31, 3–17.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; (2008b). Using corpus-based analysis to study fictional style: a multidimensional analysis of variation among and within novels. Invited plenary lecture. International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature. University of Memphis.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Egbert, J. (2012). Style in nineteenth century fiction. A multidimensional analysis. Scientific Study of Literature, 2(2), 167–198. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), applies a multidimensional analysis to a corpus of nonfiction essays written by modern authors, a previously unexplored domain, and identifies four unique but interrelated dimensions of variation based on linguistic co-occurrence: Interactive vs. Informational Style, Abstract Expository vs. Concrete Descriptive Style, Immediate vs. Removed Style, and Hypothetical Style. Authors’ works are then plotted along these dimensions, revealing stylistic tendencies with relation to the observed patterns of variation. The study also observes that considerable within-author variation along a given dimension results from differences in situational characteristics of individual texts rather than simply idiosyncratic preferences for certain language. The study contributes to the field of corpus stylistics and has practical implications for creative writing, literary analysis, and translation.
Article outline
  • Methodology
    • Corpus
    • Linguistic features
    • Factor analysis
  • Results and discussion
    • Dimensions of variation in creative nonfiction essays
      • Dimension 1. Interactive vs. Informational Style
      • Dimension 2. Abstract Expository vs. Concrete Descriptive Style
      • Dimension 3. Immediate vs. Removed Style
      • Dimension 4. Hypothetical Style
    • Author differences along the dimensions
      • Authors along Dimension 1: Interactive vs. Informational Style
      • Authors along Dimension 2: Abstract Expository vs. Concrete Descriptive Style
      • Authors along Dimension 3: Immediate vs. Removed Style
  • Conclusion
    • Limitations and future directions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
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