Discourse reflects language use beyond the sentence level; it is embodied in the concrete realization of a set of oral or written sentences that may conform to the language norms or may deviate from them depending on the intentions and linguistic knowledge of the users. In fact, the application of pragmatic norms results in the production of appropriate sentences while the violation of these rules leads to the generation of infelicitous discourse caused by pragmatic deviance which represents a sort of linguistic innovation despite its reflection of inappropriate language use. Therefore, the present article deals with the issue of pragmatic deviation in literary discourse. First, it explains the significance of pragmatic deviance. Then, it discusses the exploitation of pragmatically motivated discourse deviation in literary texts through the analysis of sentences extracted from different novels. Finally, it lists the distinct effects produced by such a phenomenon on the readers and scholars. Generally speaking, this article attempts to uncover the contribution of pragmatic deviance to the richness of literary discourse and the variation of language use.

Key Words: discourse - pragmatic deviation – exploitation - literary texts