Digital Object Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n5.5
The paper will discuss the novel as a rhetorical genre where readers are persuaded by the coordinated use of linguistic and narrative strategies, not argument. It follows the classical rhetorical tradition of Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian and Longinus and incorporates the modern rhetorical narratology of Wayne Booth and James Phelan to offer a theoretical perspective on the rhetoric of narrative fiction. It investigates the role of diction, syntax, figurative language, point of view, narrative voice, and narrative structure in evoking readers' emotional, moral, and interpretative reactions. Drawing on the ideas of structuralist narratology and pragmatics, it shows how rhetorical strategies are manifested in fictional communication and between the text and its assumed audience. The paper maintains that persuasion in the novel is realised in the interplay between language, plot, and the reader's engagement, bringing rhetorical criticism to the fore in literary research.
Jhajharia, Urvashi, and Veerendra Mishra. “Language, Style, and Persuasion in Novels: A Rhetorical Approach.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 5, Oct. 2026, pp. 55-70, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n5.5.
© 2026 The Author(s). Published by the Research Centre for English Language and Literature (RCELL) under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.
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