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Book cover of The meaning of irony
English Fiction & Prose Literature - General & Miscellaneous - Literary Criticism, Literary Criticism - General & Miscellaneous, Satire - Literary Criticism, 20th Century German Literature - Literary Criticism, General & Miscellaneous Irish Fiction & Pros

The meaning of irony

by Frank Stringfellow
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Overview

Genuinely interdisciplinary in approach, The Meaning of Irony brings together literary analysis and, from psychoanalysis, both theory and case studies. Its investigation ranges from everyday examples of verbal irony - conscious, and unconscious - to the complex irony of literature. This book provides the first full account of verbal irony from a psychoanalytic point of view. Stringfellow shows how the rhetorical tradition, by viewing the literal level of irony as something the speaker doesn't really mean, flattens out the rich ambiguities of irony and misses the unconscious meanings that are hidden behind ironic statements. He argues that only psychoanalysis can recover these unconscious meanings and reveal the origins of irony.

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Editorials

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Combines literary analysis with psychoanalytic theory and case studies to investigate conscious and unconscious irony in everyday speech and in literature. Argues that the rhetorical tradition, by viewing the literal level of irony as something the speaker does not mean, flattens the ambiguities and misses hidden meanings. Applies the approach to Swift and Kafka. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Book Details

Published
July 31, 1994
Publisher
Albany, N.Y. : State University of New York Press, c1994.
Pages
177
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780791419786

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