Above the Bottom: The Pragmatic Function of Irony in „Double Bottom“ of Goran Stefanovski
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30827/meslav.24.34467Keywords:
irony, pragmatics, interpretation, communication, criticsAbstract
Irony serves as a powerful tool for portraying complex social, political, and personal categories. It fosters conflict, highlights dissonance within social structures, adds subtext to character development, and shapes the audience’s perspective. Thus, irony is not only a speech act through which the author conveys specific intentions but also a means of communication with the audience. This study examines the function of irony in Goran Stefanovski’s play Double Bottom and proposes the application of pragmatic theories to literary analysis. It addresses the following questions: How does Stefanovski communicate with the audience? In what ways does irony uncover the speakers’ intentions? The chosen sample is the play Double Bottom, which contains a rich presence of ironic utterances serving diverse functions. The analysis employs qualitative content analysis based on coding, discourse analysis, and an interpretative-inductive approach. Findings indicate that irony in Stefanovski’s work functions to mock, provoke reactions, express viewpoints, comment on situations, display pretense, and criticize. Furthermore, the multidisciplinary approach to analyzing literary texts proves to be highly productive.
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