Ludic stylistics: Narrating a thought experiment (A study of “The Science of Discworld” series)

Abstract

This article addresses the phenomenon of ludic stylistics, viewed through the lens of interdiscursivity. The paper defines interdiscursivity as a narrative strategy that involves the blending of discourses of different types within a single literary text, thereby foregrounding its genre-bound nature. In the “The Science of Discworld” series, co-authored by Terry Pratchett along with the popular science writers Jack Cohen and Ian Stewart, interdiscursivity is evident through the fusion of fictional and non-fictional discourses. The interplay of these discourses in the “The Science of Discworld” series facilitates the creation of its ludic stylistics. The paper regards ludic stylistics as an artistic phenomenon that emerges in literary text at both the micro- and macro-levels due to unconventional combinations of linguistic units of any rank. These elements, whether independently or in tandem with other literary devices, have a tendency to engender singular or multiple ludic effects. Ludic microstylistics in the “The Science of Discworld” series is primarily manifested through the innovative combinations of various figures of speech, such as metaphors, personifications, antonomasia, analogies, neologisms, puns, irony, and more. Ludic macrostylistics is represented by narrative games, predominantly of metafictional and intertextual varieties. Overall, ludic stylistics constitutes the ontology of the “The Science of Discworld” series, while shedding light on the innovative transformations of genre-bound literary forms.