An ecostylistic analysis of selected extracts from Michael Punke’s novel The Revenant

Abstract

This article presents an ecostylistic analysis of selected extracts from Michael Punke’s novel The Revenant (2002). The aims of the study are achieved in terms of an eclectic methodological framework. The study aims at revealing the power hierarchy created in the selected texts between human and non-human participants. Also, it aims to show how the elements of nature affect the survival of humans in the fictional context by identifying the ecostylistic features in the literary text. A close ecostylistic reading of six selected extracts from the novel using Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) tools (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014[1985]) and Zurru’s (2017) approach is followed. Moreover, the study presents a qualitative investigation of stylistic elements such as foregrounded features and deviated language patterns. Thus, conducting an ecostylistic analysis of the chosen passages, and, demonstrating how the author portrays the environment with all its elements as an effective participant helps to appreciate nature. The findings show that nature acts as the main character’s savior and a threat to his life; it also demonstrates how nature works as a powerful active participant in portraying the events of the novel.

Keywords

• ecostylistics
• fiction
• foregrounding
• SFG
• stylistics analysis
• transitivity processes