Meaning Irony

The Ethics of Irony

Abstract

In the second of this two-part article1, the phenomenon of irony and the processes through which it generates meaning will be approached from a perspective that shows how irony not only happens through the semantic interplay between what is “said” and what remains “unsaid”, but also through the ethical interplay between writer, text, and reader. Arguments will be based upon work of authorities on the subject of irony, like Linda Hutcheon, Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson, and Wayne Booth.