Edge of Irony in Martin Amis’s Fiction

Abstract

This thesis examines the tenets of postmodern irony in Martin Amis’s three keynovels–Money: A Suicide Note,Time’s ArrowandLondon Fields. The study begins with a premise that Amisis a postmodern writerwhoportrays low-life characters in all their physical grossness and emotional barrenness butwithbiting irony. For Frederick Jameson,postmodern irony is weak and has degenerated in pastiche. Opposed tothis view isLinda Hutcheon’s postmodernist understanding of irony implies that there is positive motivationin postmodern irony approximates to corrective function of satiric irony. She strongly believes that irony still has the edge and can be used as weapon to correct human follies. Based on Hutcheon’s theoretical model this thesis analyses the inherent edge of Amis’s irony which is intended for social reconstruction.