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Ghost worlds: Irony and indeterminacy

Billy Clark*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

Clark’s chapter applies Simpson’s (2011, 2019, 2024) model of irony to explore how ideas about irony might apply to the production and understanding of two related texts, the graphic novel Ghost World and its film adaptation. There are indeterminacies in the examples drawn from both texts, including about whether they can even be categorised as irony and, if so, how. These examples provide further support for Simpson’s view of irony as complex and hard to define, but also, in line with Simpson, they illustrate how irony nonetheless remains a useful analytical concept, showing how the nature of what utterances communicate, and how they do so, is more important than whether or how they can be categorised.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationPractising Stylistics
Subtitle of host publicationEssays in Honour of Paul Simpson
EditorsClara Neary, Simon Statham, Peter Stockwell
Place of PublicationAmsterdam, Netherlands
PublisherJohn Benjamins
Chapter11
Pages141–150
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)9789027243706
ISBN (Print)9789027234384
Publication statusAccepted/In press - 8 Sept 2025

Publication series

NameLinguistic Approaches to Literature
PublisherJohn Benjamins
Volume45
ISSN (Print)1569-3112

Keywords

  • film
  • graphic novels
  • implicature
  • indeterminacy
  • irony

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