Ironic Insights: Unveiling the Social Criticism behind the Irony Layers of 19th-Century North American Short Fiction, 2025
In a period marked by rapid change—post-Revolutionary ideals clashing with entrenched hierarchie... more In a period marked by rapid change—post-Revolutionary ideals clashing with entrenched hierarchies, industrial capitalism reshaping communities, and long-standing prejudices facing new scrutiny—writers turned to irony as a tool to criticize, question, and confront. Beneath the surface of apparently simple tales, lie layers of subtle irony that challenge conventional norms and expose the fractures in societal foundations.
El siguiente artículo explora el tema del amor propio en la famosa obra Beloved escrita por Toni ... more El siguiente artículo explora el tema del amor propio en la famosa obra Beloved escrita por Toni Morrison. A través de la memoria fragmentada de Sethe, la autora nos da una verdadera lección de vida, quererse a una misma. Más allá del amor romántico y del amor maternal, hay otro amor que resulta difícil de conquistar, el propio.
There are things which happen and leave no discernible trace, are not spoken or written of, thoug... more There are things which happen and leave no discernible trace, are not spoken or written of, though it would be very wrong to say that subsequent events go on indifferently, all the same, as though such things had never been." Postscript, Possession. Linda Hutcheon (1988) presents many historical concerns in her article "The Postmodern Problematizing of History", which are reflected in Antonia S. Byatt's historiographic metafiction masterpiece, Possession. However, is history important in literature? In postmodernism, it is common to find reinterpretations of history that play an essential role in understanding our present. Let's consider The Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Time's Arrow by Martin Amis, or the short story "Recitatif" by Toni Morrison. What makes Byatt's novel outstanding is that she does not only revisit the past, but she also goes a step forward by applying the historical method and showing its flaws in a clever game between what scholars can discover and what the readers can acknowledge. The author is at a clear advantage as she has the whole picture in her mind, but this is something the historian, unfortunately, will never have. Can the reader have full access to the author's mind? I am not quite convinced.
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