史莉莉. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-123). / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Shi Lili. / 摘要 --- p.i / Abstract --- p.ii / Chapter 第一章 --- 緒論 --- p.1 / Chapter 第一節 --- 張愛玲小說創作回顧 --- p.1 / Chapter 第二節 --- 張愛玲小說硏究回顧 --- p.6 / Chapter 第三節 --- 硏究方法及論述架構 --- p.12 / Chapter 第二章 --- 修辭反諷 --- p.27 / Chapter 第一節 --- 反諷修辭建構 --- p.27 / Chapter 第二節 --- 範式之一一一強性反諷 --- p.31 / Chapter 第三節 --- 範式之二一一弱性反諷 --- p.40 / Chapter 第三章 --- 人物反諷 --- p.49 / Chapter 第一節 --- 個體存在的複雜性處境：〈紅玫瑰與白玫瑰〉 --- p.50 / Chapter 第二節 --- 兩性道德的複雜性探索：〈桂花蒸阿小悲秋〉 --- p.58 / Chapter 第三節 --- 個體與民族國家複雜性關係的反思：〈色，戒〉 --- p.70 / Chapter 第四章 --- 模式反諷 --- p.83 / Chapter 第一節 --- 傳統模式的反諷 --- p.85 / Chapter 第二節 --- 新文學模式的反諷 --- p.96 / 結語 --- p.106 / 參考書目 --- p.108 / Chapter (一） --- 張愛玲作品 : --- p.108 / Chapter (二） --- 張愛玲傳記 : --- p.109 / Chapter (三） --- 書信 ： --- p.109 / Chapter (四） --- 張愛玲硏究專書 ： --- p.111 / Chapter (五） --- 其他專書 ： --- p.113 / Chapter (六） --- 英文參考書目 ： --- p.116 / Chapter (七） --- 單篇論文 ： --- p.117

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ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis examines the late novels of Henry James in the light of a distinction between "resolved" and "unresolved" ironies. The first chapter aims to clarify this distinction, arguing that in "traditional" ii'onie works the dominant irony is characteristically "resolved": that is, such works are structured upon the gradual enlightenment of the protagonist, to issue in the extinction of irony as such a protagonist achieves equality of insight with the reader. Such resolution, it is argued, is dependent on the author's access to and acceptance of a stable system of values. Conversely, where such stable communal values seem to the writer to be inconsistent with the unstable reality he perceives, the dominant irony of the work, in not being based upon a clearly defined or implied norm, is likely to remain "unresolved". The second chapter approaches the nineteenth-century novel as the product of a society generally perceived to be based on firmly established values. Resolved irony thus predominates in these novels, but not as the vehicle of a complacent view of society: the irony is usually dependent on the perceived need for change in society, its resolution being posited on a belief in the possibility of such change. As such a belief weakens, an unresolved element becomes more evident in these novels, to predominate by the end of the century. The third chapter uses James' The Ambassadors to show how unresolved irony can result from an author's exploration of his subject beyond the confines of his declared intention. In thi's instance, it is argued, the unresolved irony is a function of a more complex view of his pro, tagonist than James seems to have foreseen. The fourth chapter develops this enquiry by showing that in The Wings of the Dove James' subject once again grew beyond the projected outline, but in this case with James fully avlare of the development. Unresolved irony, though still a product of "unintended" meanings, thus more consciously reflects a critical view of its subject. The fifth chapter adduces The Goleen Bowl as James' most sustained work of unresolved irony. It is the aim to demonstrate that the novel's meaning is entirely a function of this lack of resolution, the controlling vision being that of a society in which professed values are hopelessly at odds with true motives. Joseph Conrad and D.H. Lawrence are consistently used for comparison and contrast with James, partly to demonstrate their awareness of the attractions· and dangers of irony as a response to perplexity, and partly to claim for James a place next to them as a profound commentator on the early twentieth century.

This thesis analyzed Zakes Mda's The Heart of redness in the tradition of South African pastoral and counter-pastoral. It proposed that the novel is a hybrid of both African and European tradition and perspectives. It adduced Northrop Frye's theory of myth and archetypes in literature as a basis for study. It also analysed the novel in its use of irony.

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This thesis explores the various manifestations of irony in prose-fiction by women in Quebec from 1960 to 1980. Traditionally used by men, irony is gradually becoming more widespread in women's writing, which in itself is an interesting reversal: more often "objects" of irony, women now reverse the rules of the game and become ironizing "subjects". The first part of the thesis investigates explicit irony; that is, irony which is duly identified and already decoded for the reader; for example, the author might emphasize an ironic fate or destiny for her characters, or might invest a character with an attitude, a smile, or remarks that are ironic. Explicit irony most often appears in works published during the first decade of our corpus; use of this form of irony constitutes a critical initial phase in women's writing because it enabled women authors to learn about the resources of irony and employ them in their work. / Explicit irony, therefore, operates within the text and requires minimal competence in the reader for its decoding; the decoding of the text will play a central role in implicit irony, which will be focus of part two of the thesis. Implicit irony manifests itself in the text in three principal forms: rhetorical, structural, and chromosomic. Rhetorical irony emerges from knowledge of the language and requires the reader to identify occurrences of antiphrases, innuendoes, metaphors, and other types of word-games in the text; structural irony depends upon the inner-workings of the text and demands an aptitude for discerning instances of parody, structural paradox, or intertextuality; that form of irony which we have named chromosomic requires a specific decoding that is effected in function of the author's feminine gender. / Following part two, which highlights the reader's role in the process of interpreting irony, the third and final part reveals the principal targets of irony in these women's writings. This tableau of "victims" completes our study by identifying the types of persons, institutions, or ideas that provoke the criticism of women writers. Such a broad range of types, comprising the clergy, education, the family, and foreigners, among others, tends to point toward a common denominator: Power. The authors scrutinize power relationships in all their forms; inspired by their "collective destiny", that persists, even today, in excluding them from positions of decision-making, women now propose a different vision of the world. Irony in the feminine permits an original reading of their struggle and their demands.

Herman Charles Bosman's Oom Schalk stories have made him one of the most popular writers in South Africa, and the rural Marico District in which the stories are set a popular tourist destination. This popularity is largely due to the storytelling figure of Oom Schalk, the likeable old boer raconteur, who tells the stories and ironically pokes fun at his Marico community. This image of Oom Schalk and the Oom Schalk stories is one which was created and nurtured by Lionel Abrahams who was almost single-handedly responsible for the collection and republication of many of these stories after Bosman's death. The image of Schalk, and therefore the intention of Bosman in creating this fictional narrator, as a benign figure has been contested by some literary critics and defended by others. The debate has revolved around the extent to which Bosman's use of irony in the stories addresses the explicitly racist attitudes of Schalk and the Marico community. Unfortunately the debates around irony have been hampered by a lack of attention to the nature and functioning of irony. In my introduction I look at the problems that many critics have in trying to define the diverse body of writing that Bosman produced and the way in which this has defined a particular critical approach to Bosman. In Chapter 1 I discuss how the history of publication of Bosman's Oom Schalk stories and literary criticism has defined an approach to these stories which is often inappropriate. I also discuss some of the literary critical implications of the recent recollection and republication of Bosman's work in The Anniversary Edition. In Chapter 2 I address the issue of irony in the Oom Schalk stories. I deal with the way in which irony is constructed in the Oom Schalk stories. This discussion includes an analysis of the narrative structure of the short stories and the way in which the figure of Oom Schalk is used to create different levels of irony. In Chapter 3 I examine some of the Oom Schalk stories in detail in order to demonstrate the way in which Bosman's deployment of irony produces an identifiable pattern which establishes a basis for a discussion of Bosman's ironic intent in writing these stories. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2003.

This study analyzes the expression of Maugham's ironic vision in his short stories set in the South Seas and Southeast Asia. Through point of view, setting, character, and plot, Maugham explores the dialectic of expectation outcome, hope-disappointment, and illusion-reality. In the exotic short stories, not only do Maugham's characters confront this dialectic, but readers do as well. Using irony as a heuristic, Maugham prods his readers into rethinking unexamined assumptions about human nature and about the often disillusioning repercussions of clinging to ideals or having unrealistic expectations of life.The narrative voice in Maugham's stories, whether that of the omniscient or the dramatized first-person narrator, draws attention to the discrepancy between the ideal and the actual, using irony to highlight characterization as people are shown to be something other than they might be or what they are. Further, the narrators also establish a context for irony by inviting readers to share their insights on characters and conflicts, thereby emphasizing their distance from the characters who speak and act in ignorance of the actual state of affairs.Relying upon the conventions of realism, which assumes that man may find his destiny shaped by his responses to an environment, and using that environment to achieve artistic ends, Maugham demonstrates that setting generates irony as it precipitates tension, conflict, and sudden revelations of character. In other instances, the irony grows from Maugham's explorations of his characters' expectations of the exotic settings, suggesting that the tropical paradises are places of nightmares, as well as dreams.The volatile combination of setting and character often erupts in shocking plot reversals that have become the hallmark of Maugham's narrative techniques. The ironies of plot surface as characters and the first-person narrators confront realities that have been hidden or that have been denied. In many cases, the characters and the narrators have allowed their ideals or expectations to mislead them or cloud their judgment. Other plot ironies occur with the frame stories, as the narrators connect the fictive world of the story to the factual world of the reader, thus juxtaposing the ironic dialectic of reality and fiction.Throughout the exotic short stories, the designs of Maugham's narrative technique suggest that irony effectively expresses his philosophic stance on the ambiguity of human motives and the futility of idealism. / Department of English