Irony (The New Critical Idiom)

THE NEW CRITICAL IDIOM

SERIES EDITOR: JOHN DRAKAKIS, UNIVERSITY OF STIRLING

The New Critical Idiom is an invaluable series of introductory guides to today’s critical terminology. Each book

• provides a handy, explanatory guide to the use (and abuse) of the term

• offers an original and distinctive overview by a leading literary and cultural critic

• relates the term to the larger field of cultural representation.

With a strong emphasis on clarity, lively debate and the widest possible breadth of examples, The New Critical Idiom is an indispensable approach to key topics in literary studies.

Also available in this series:

Autobiography by Linda Anderson

Class by Gary Day

Colonialism/Postcolonialism by Ania Loomba

Crime Fiction by John Scaggs

Culture/Metaculture by Francis Mulhern

Discourse by Sara Mills

Dramatic Monologue by Glennis Byron

Genders by David Glover and Cora Kaplan

Gothic by Fred Botting

Historicism by Paul Hamilton

Humanism by Tony Davies

Ideology by David Hawkes

Interdisciplinarity by Joe Moran

Intertextuality by Graham Allen

Literature by Peter Widdowson

Metre, Rhythm and Verse Form by Philip Hobsbaum

Modernism by Peter Childs

Myth by Laurence Coupe

Narrative by Paul Cobley

Parody by Simon Dentith

Pastoral by Terry Gifford

Realism by Pam Morris

Romanticism by Aidan Day

Science Fiction by Adam Roberts

Sexuality by Joseph Bristow

Stylistics by Richard Bradford

The Unconscious by Antony Easthope

IRONY

Claire Colebrook

LONDON AND NEW YORK

First published 2004 by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P4EE

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor Francis Group

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Colebrook, Claire.
Irony/Claire Colebrook.
p. cm.—(New critical idiom)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Irony in literature. I. Title. II. Series.
PN56.165C65 2003
809′.918—dc21
2003009700

ISBN 0-203-63412-8 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-63641-4 (MP PDA Format)

ISBN 0-415-25133-8 (hbk )

ISBN 0-415-25134-6 (pbk )

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