Towards a Historical Synthesis of the Concept of Irony

Abstract

The present essay aims to analyse the ways in which the concept of irony, characterised by its great versatility, has been approached throughout history, and how the different historical trends may have influenced the way it is understood nowadays, especially in the framework of relevance theory. Then it focuses upon the evolution of the recurrent traits of the relevance approach and relates it to other contemporary proposals. Finally, it refers to the latest trends in the investigation of irony and suggests possible lines of development or further research both within relevance theory and in other approaches.