Radu Paraschivescu

IRONY AND SELF IRONY IN PUBLIC SPEECH

with Radu Paraschivescu

“One of the things we have yet to learn is how to laugh without embarassing ourselves. This course proposes to insist on a decisive though undervalued component of public speaking: irony. What are its advantages in an increasingly more bitter world? What functions does irony have and what are its main characteristics? What do we hope to accomplish through an ironic take on a situation? What sort of balance is there between irony and self irony? What models of ironic and self ironic speech do we have in Romanian public discourse over the last two decades? Here are some of the questions we will try to answer throughout this course” Radu Paraschivescu

A few of the topics we shall be addressing and practicing during this workship:

1. What is irony – „Irony is alcohol for the spirit”
2. What is self-irony – „Self irony is the ability to see yourself through other’s eyes and not to fall in love with what you see”
3. Functions of irony and its characteristics
4. Functions of self irony
5. Ways to laugh
6. Difference and nuance
7. Tools for irony and self irony
8. Placement in the world: France against England – the school of irony versus the school of self irony, sociocultural myths and prejudice
9. Irony şi self irony in current public discourse