STYLISTIC DEVICES IN MODERN BRITISH DETECTIVE DISCOURSE (CASE STUDY: WORKS BY PETER JAMES)

Abstract

The article concentrates on the peculiarities of functioning of stylistic devices in modern British detective discourse. The methods used are qualitative methods of linguistics: the method of text interpretation and the method of linguostylistic abstraction. The material of study is creative works of P. James. Among these works the author of the article distinguishes thrilling crime stories and mystic crime stories. Stylistic devices are examined in the frames of their participation in the verbalization of the concepts DETECTIVE (in thrilling crime stories) and VICTIM-DETECTIVE (in mystic crime stories) defined as key concepts of the present study. The research is based on the classification of stylistic devices offered by O. M. Morokhovskyi and developed by the author of the article.

The paper analyses the titles of a series of books by Peter James to reveal the stylistic devices used in the titles. The analysis showed that the lexical unit Dead is a marker of the series of thrilling crime stories where Roy Grace is the main character. This lexical unit is a part of stylistic devices observed in the titles of the books. It predicts murders and great tension of the plot of a crime story and contributes in creating the imagery of the titles. The titles of mystic crime stories are one-word titles represented by nouns, so they may be classified as nominative sentences. These titles have mystic colouring, therefore they attune the perception of a reader to a certain tone, which the writer needs.

The study offers characteristics and interpreting comment of stylistic devices used in the texts taking into account their combination and images on which they are based. The author of the research makes a conclusion that Peter James applies the whole range of stylistic devices to verbalize the key concepts (DETECTIVE and VICTIM-DETECTIVE). The imagery of these devices embraces various spheres of human lives. An important feature of the books of the writer is the desire to appeal not only to the sight but also to the hearing of the reader (by creating a certain rhythm of a text or using intermedial allusions).