1st Edition

Irony's Edge The Theory and Politics of Irony

By Linda Hutcheon Copyright 1995
    254 Pages
    by Routledge

    254 Pages
    by Routledge

    The edge of irony, says Linda Hutcheon, is always a social and political edge. Irony depends upon interpretation; it happens in the tricky, unpredictable space between expression and understanding.

    Irony's Edge is a fascinating, compulsively readable study of the myriad forms and the effects of irony. It sets out, for the first time, a sustained, clear analysis of the theory and the political contexts of irony, using a wide range of references from contemporary culture. Examples extend from Madonna to Wagner, from a clever quip in conversation to a contentious exhibition in a museum.

    Irony's Edge outlines and then challenges all the major existing theories of irony, providing the most comprehensive and critically challengin theory of irony to date.

    Table of Illustrations Introduction: The `Scene' of Irony Acknowledgements 1. Risky Business: The `Transideological' Politics of Irony 2. The Cutting Edge 3. Modelling Meaning: The Semantics of Irony 4. discursive Communities: How Irony `Happens' 5. Intention and Interpretation: Irony and the Eye of the Beholder 6. Frame-ups and their marks: The Recognition or Attribution of Irony 7. The End(s) of Irony: The Politics fo Appropriateness Bibliography

    Biography

    Arthur F. Kinney