A Rhetoric of Irony. by Wayne C. Booth

Booth, Wayne C. A Rhetoric of Irony. University of Chicago Press. Chicago, Il. 1975.

http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/05/051011.booth.shtml

In his seminal 1975 work, A Rhetoric of Irony, Wayne C. Booth addresses the many varying opinions on the construction of irony by analyzing how we manage we manage to communicate, or not to communicate, ironic rhetoric. His interest in the ways in which readers and listeners interpret meanings opens the exploration of our ability to construct meaning in the interpretation of text and words. His semiotic approach to comprehending meaning gives a theoretical background for the ability to identify and replicate what words combine to mean, between the author’s purpose and the audience’s comprehension. In the first half of his book, Booth identifies and delves into the constructs of what he calls "stable irony," or irony with a clear rhetorical intent. In the second half, he contrasts with those that he considers unstable, or rather those ironies that have not been clearly interpreted or understood since the Romantic Period. Booth’s chapters cover the myriad varieties of humor, such as puns, allegories, fables, metaphors, satires and parodies. But by looking closely at unstable ironists like Samuel Becket, he illustrates that interpreting irony treads on shaky ground in terms of identifying meaning. He also explores the paradoxes surrounding assertions of meaning that arise due to the misdirectional quality of irony’s construction.

Booth’s thorough exploration of irony’s rhetoric gives a sturdy backdrop for examining the rhetoric of The Onion. Before approaching the current climate and media context for the construction of a modern satirical news site, it seems appropriate to first examine the research identifying the theory of humor, and irony is at the heart of such sophisticated rhetoric. Although, comparatively speaking, the discussion of the earlier time periods of humor – from Romantic to Burlesque to Absurdism – do not necessarily need to be addressed in the discussion of modern media rhetoric, it might prove a good contrast in exploring the context of subject-matter involved in the satire. His exploration of the stability of irony may prove useful in determining what makes The Onion accepted as satisfactorily humorous in terms of identifiable rhetoric in the new media. Booth’s renown for his exploration of rhetoric arose in his work as a literary critic and Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago.

Wayne C. Booth
absurdism
burlesque
rhetoric