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In:The Pragmatics of Irony and Banter
Edited by Manuel Jobert and Sandrine Sorlin
[Linguistic Approaches to Literature 30] 2018
► pp. 121–140

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Chapter 7
The face-value of place-work in William Makepeace Thackeray’s handling of irony

 | Université Paris-8 Saint-Denis
Published online: 25 April 2018
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lal.30.07fro
Abstract
Irony is admittedly a well-established and well-documented feature in William Makepeace Thackeray’s works, but the present contribution undertakes to study its textual mechanisms in light of pragmatic theories complemented with a specific structural approach, referred to as “place-work.” The purpose is to highlight that from the perspectives of both creation and reception, the mechanisms of Thackerayan irony involve the distribution of one, two or three “places,” alternately or cumulatively occupied by the ironist and his addressee(s), whether narrator, commentator, characters, and readers alike. This ever-changing “topology” of irony results in the constant reshuffling of roles and places typically at work in Thackeray’s writings, and underlines as well the structural instability of irony.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Topology of irony: Placework and speaker’s strategy
    • 2.1The one-place structure of self-directed irony
    • 2.2The two-place structure of irony directed to others
    • 2.3The three-place structure of redirected irony
  • 3.Topography of irony: Placework and hearer’s reception
    • 3.1The one-place structure of interpretation of irony
    • 3.2The two-place structure of flagged irony
    • 3.3The three-place configuration of sign-posted irony
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
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