This is the first book-length study of how point of view is manifested linguistically in dramatic texts. It examines such issues as how readers process the shifts in viewpoint that can occur within such texts. Using insights from cognitive linguistics, the book aims to explain how the analysis of point of view in drama can be undertaken, and how this is fruitful for understanding textual and discoursal effects in this genre. Following on from a consideration of existing frameworks for the analysis of point of view, a cognitive approach to deixis is suggested as being particularly profitable for explaining the viewpoint effects that can arise in dramatic texts. To expand on the large number of examples discussed throughout the book, the penultimate chapter consists of an extended analysis of a single play. This book is relevant to scholars in a range of areas, including linguistics, literary studies and cognitive science.

Table of contents

Acknowledgements ix Preface xi Point of view and plays 1–15 Narratives, narration and point of view in prose 17–56 Perspectives on point of view in drama 57–90 Deictic shifts in dramatic texts 91–121 Possible worlds, possible viewpoints 123–140 Logic, reality and mind style 141–158 Point of view in The Lady in the Van 159–185 Conclusion 187–190 References 191–198 Index 199–203

"A sophisticated stylistics of drama has been a long time coming, and Dan McIntyre's book sets the agenda. This book is significant for offering principled solutions for narratology, for cognitive poetics, for literary scholars and of course for advancing a poetics of drama. It will be regarded by future stylisticians of theatre as a turning point in the field." Peter Stockwell