Individualni styl – problem a resení
INDIVIDUAL STYLE – THE PROBLEM AND ITS SOLUTIONS

Summary/Abstract: First part of the article outlines the evolution of the concept of individual style in stylistics. Second and third part point out the theoretical and methodological problems connected with the above-mentioned concept and draw attention to several possible solutions. The radical solution consists – in the tradition of the negativistic propositions submitted by B. Gray in his book Style. The Problem and its Solution (1969) – in denying the existence of the phenomenon of individual style (Ch. Grimm, Zum Mythos Individualstil, 1991). If we want to defend the legitimacy and usefulness of the concept, we have to take into account various factors. (1) Individual style manifests itself in the whole textual production of a person, but only a part of this production can become object of research; so a complicated question arises, which texts can be considered representative. (2) The reductive approach to the individual style searches for those style traits that are specific only for the given author and tries to filter out all the other traits. On the other hand, the complex approach conceives the individual style as a mode of selection and organization of the elements of author’s idiolect; thus, also the devices shared with other persons are considered as components of the individual style. (3) The individual style must be viewed as dynamic and changing in time.

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