Disability stylistics
An illustration based on Pew in Stevenson’s Treasure Island
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21599513 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Rod Hermeston (0000-0001-8176-9484, Leeds Trinity University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 173-194 |
| Publication date | 2023-05-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Language and Literature International Journal of Stylistics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0963-9470 • E-ISSN: 1461-7293 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/09639470221122101 |
| OpenAlex | W4306693831 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 22 |
This article represents the first illustration of the tools of disability stylistics on a literary text. It does so by examining the representation of blindness in an extract from Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Treasure Island in which the character Pew is introduced. The article outlines concepts relating to the othering of disabled people before describing two major cultural stereotypes of disability that scholars argue persist to the present day. These are the pathetic and pitiful disabled person and the disabled individual as evil. Disability scholars have identified language as a key area for the construction and perpetuation of stereotypes of disability. However, scholarship has tended to focus on labels, or discourse with language use considered in context. This article confirms that labels and basic description are crucial elements through a consideration of noun phrases. Nevertheless, the article also utilises the models of transitivity, speech acts and im/politeness, and elements of the framework of appraisal. The article identifies a pivotal moment in the extract in which Pew is transformed from a potentially (though ambiguous) pitiful figure into a realisation of the evil stereotype, and shows that all stylistic frameworks outlined permit these depictions to be analysed. The article calls for the tools to be used to test the claims that stereotypes persist into the present day. It also concludes that disability stylistics should be tested on representations of other disabilities. It argues that the tools need also to be used to analyse other disability stereotypes
Linguistics · Politeness · Political science · Politics · Scholarship · Sociology · Treasure · Disability Rights and Representation · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · History · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology
The Language of Evaluation
Discourse
Language, Ideology and Point of View
The Routledge Handbook of Stylistics
The Disability Studies Reader
Contours of Ableism
Disability Rights and Wrongs Revisited
Language and Literature
Towards a critical stylistics of disability
Politeness
Towards an anatomy of impoliteness
Conceptualizing Stigma
| Highly cited | No |
|---|