Didactic irony and the realm of uncertainty

In the present thesis, I explore the notion of didactic irony, irony’s teaching that enables a critical and responsible reading process. I explain how didactic irony manifests itself in different intensities and orientations but always in relation to the realm of uncertainty. In teaching and simultaneously questioning, didactic irony points to the underlying uncertainty of meaning, knowledge, and truth. I conceptualise literature as asking for and thereby stimulating the active participation of the reader in the process of reading. Didactic irony may be seen as an important means of creating critical distance and responsibility, in literature and life alike. The connection between literature and life here exists in the critical and responsible process of interpretation that precedes all acquisition of knowledge. Especially when reading the legend of Gregorius, this connection may be seen as a stimulating ‘lesson in reading’. I thus investigate three adaptations of the legend of...Show moreIn the present thesis, I explore the notion of didactic irony, irony’s teaching that enables a critical and responsible reading process. I explain how didactic irony manifests itself in different intensities and orientations but always in relation to the realm of uncertainty. In teaching and simultaneously questioning, didactic irony points to the underlying uncertainty of meaning, knowledge, and truth. I conceptualise literature as asking for and thereby stimulating the active participation of the reader in the process of reading. Didactic irony may be seen as an important means of creating critical distance and responsibility, in literature and life alike. The connection between literature and life here exists in the critical and responsible process of interpretation that precedes all acquisition of knowledge. Especially when reading the legend of Gregorius, this connection may be seen as a stimulating ‘lesson in reading’. I thus investigate three adaptations of the legend of Gregorius by analysing Hartmann’s von Aue medieval verse epic Gregorius (ca. 1190), Thomas Mann’s modernist novel Der Erwählte (1951), and Jörg Udo Lensing’s postmodernist film Gregorius auf dem Stein (2012).Show less

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Didactic irony and the realm of uncertainty