In several respects, linguistic stylistics is the purest form of stylistics, in that its practitioners attempt to derive from the study of style and language a refinement of models for the analysis of language and thus to contribute to the development of linguistic theory. Work in linguistic stylistics is generally less accommodating to the aims of non-linguistic disciplines and is thus, when applied, most likely to provoke reservations about its relevance.

Richard Bradford provides a definitive introductory guide to modern critical ideas on literary style and stylistics. Providing readers with a basic grasp of stylistics and literary analysis, this comprehensive and accessible guidebook examines the terminology of literary form; how literary style has evolved since the sixteenth century; the role of stylistics in twentieth-century criticism; the discipline of stylistics from classical rhetoric to post-structuralism; the relationship between literary style and its historical context; style and gender.