Interpretive Representation: A Relevance-Theoretic Analysis of the Opening Paragraph of Carlyle's Chartism

Abstract

Abstract This paper demonstrates the capacity of relevance theory to illuminate the stylistic features of a complex piece of literary prose and in particular to shed light on the level of coherence inherent in the text examined. Taking some independent critical observations of the writer's style as a point of departure, it provides a close analysis of the opening paragraph of Thomas Carlyle's essay Chartism (1840), and places these observations on a firmer theoretical footing using the relevance-theoretic concept of interpretive representation. In particular, it accounts for a number of inferences that are called for in relation to the interpretation of referential expressions that link the propositions expressed in the text with further propositions likely to be evoked in the reader. The analysis provided offers insight into Carlyle's style and supplies a criterion for constraining interpretations of the text as a whole.