First published in 1969, Professor Hough's work examines stylistics - the bridge between linguistics and literary criticism. The book gives a short survey of stylistics from the literary point of view, and tries to answer the question of how much stylistics contributes to the understanding of literature.

Preface; 1. The Concept of Style and the Origins of Style-Study 2. Linguistic Style-Study 3. Literary Stylistics: Methods and Problems 4. Some Practitioners 5. Conclusion: Limits and Possibilities; Select Bibliography