Irony (The New Critical Idiom)

Irony (The New Critical Idiom)

CONTENTS

SERIES EDITOR’S PREFACE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

1 The Concept of Irony

The History of Irony: From Eironeia to Ironia

Medieval and Renaissance Irony

Cosmic, Tragic or Dramatic Irony and Everyday Irony

The Problem of Irony

Determining Irony through Value

2 The Philosophy of Irony: Plato and Socrates

Plato’s Symposium

The Politics of Irony after Socrates

Stable Irony and Recognition

3 Romantic Irony

The Ironic Fall

Irony as a Style of Existence

Contradiction: Dostoevsky, Blake, Swift

German Romantic Irony: Contexts and Difference

The Fractured Absolute

4 Beyond Irony and Subjectivity: Byron and Swift

The Ironic Subject

Swift and Unreason

Irony against Satire: Byron

5 Irony out of Context: Derrida, Nietzsche and de Man

Post-structuralism: Derrida

Deconstruction and Affirmation: Derrida

Allegory and Irony: Paul de Man

6 Satire and the Limits of Irony: From Byron and Swift to Butler

The Limits of Language

Romantic Ideology: McGann

Ethics and Postmodern Irony

The Ironic Subject and History

Performative Politics and Gender: Judith Butler

7 Humour and Irony: Deleuze and Guattari

Satire and Literary History

The Literary Subject and the Emergence of Irony

Joyous Stupidity

8 Postmodernism, Parody and Irony: Rorty, Hutcheon, Austen, Joyce and Carter

Richard Rorty: Irony and Pragmatism

Linda Hutcheon and the Politics of Postmodern Irony

Free-indirect Style: Austen and Joyce

Postmodern Immanence