TF Colloquium : Irony and Tragedy with Gregory Currie (University of York)

The title and abstract of the next TF Colloquium are as follows:

Irony and Tragedy

The irony most often connected with tragedy is dramatic irony. I will focus on the connection between tragedy and verbal irony, though dramatic irony will come into it. I begin by explaining what I take verbal irony to be, and its relations to other kinds of irony. The theory I favour is (a version of) the pretence theory; I compare this with the echoic theory of Sperber and Wilson. I then consider how these two theories might accommodate hidden or deceptive irony. I use some examples from Greek tragedy to illustrate the idea of deceptive irony, its relation to an audience, the extent to which it can be thought of as echoic, and its capacity to generate dramatic irony.