TY - JOUR TI - The founding fathers of Stylistics, a double portrait: Leo Spitzer and Dumitru Caracostea AU - Bot, Ioana TI - The founding fathers of Stylistics, a double portrait: Leo Spitzer and Dumitru Caracostea AB - The present paper aims at throwing some light on the way in which stylistics as a new literary science emerged, in the studies of two significant literary theorists of the 20th century. Both their theorizing positions are derived from the experience of World War I. D. Caracostea and Leo Spitzer were doctoral colleagues, in Vienna, in the department headed by the great linguist W. Meyer-Lubke, prior to WW I. War was to separate them forever. Nevertheless, it was also the war that caused them to reflect along similar lines on the necessity of devising a new scientific basis for literary studies. His experience as a military censor in prisoner camps provided Leo Spitzer with the most “concrete” materials for defining expressive stylistics, a new discipline in literary research. Likewise, D. Caracostea’s interest in folklore prompted the young Military Academy professor in the 1920’s to search the recent memories of peasant soldiers for the stuff that could help reestablish a collective psychology, actually foreshadowing modern anthropology. VL - Volume 16 (2016) IS - Volume 16, Issue 1 PY - 2016 SN - 1732-8705 C1 - 2084-3917 SP - 169 EP - 177 DO - 10.4467/20843917RC.16.015.5936 UR - https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/romanica-cracoviensia/article/the-founding-fathers-of-stylistics-a-double-portrait-leo-spitzer-and-dumitru-caracostea KW - D. Caracostea KW - WW1 KW - collective psychology KW - Leo Spitzer KW - expressive stylistics.