Style as Motivated Choice: In Memory of Peter Verdonk (1934-2021)

This volume of stylistic scholarship is dedicated to the memory of one of the most inspirational and kindest stylistics scholars of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, Peter Verdonk (1934-2021). Verdonk was Professor of Stylistics at the University of Amsterdam and one of the founding members of the Poetics and Linguistics Association (PALA). Many of his colleagues from PALA have contributed chapters to this volume. Each author has chosen as their starting point one of Verdonk's ideas on literary and linguistic style. Through his many nuanced and illuminating stylistic analyses, Verdonk's works explore questions pertaining to: How can we recognise styles and stylistic features? How is style used in literary and non-literary contexts? What is the relationship between text and discourse and between production and reception? And, centrally, how can we consider 'style' as 'motivated choice'. The chapters in this volume are erudite and inspirational. Reflecting Verdonk's own influence on the discipline of stylistics and his career-long support of younger scholars, they will motivate new stylistics researchers and students for decades to come.