Ida Lucia Machado's Parodie et Analyse du Discours [Parody and Discourse Analysis], published by the French publishing house L'Harmattan, provides readers with a theoretical and methodological approach to parody. The reading is light and thought-provoking as the book raises important issues about the theme from a Discourse Analysis perspective.
Ida Lucia Machado is one of the precursors of Discourse Analysis in Brazil and one of the main Brazilian interlocutors between Brazil and France with regard to research on the Semiolinguistic Theory developed by Patrick Charaudeau, who has been Machado's theoretical colleague in academic events, research projects, and publications.
The preface to Parodie et Analyse du Discours [Parody and Discourse Analysis] is signed by Charaudeau and addresses two key aspects. The first aspect is the book's theme, viz., parody. The second concerns the theoretical relevance of Machado's work, for the author reveals how the instruments of Discourse Analysis contribute to the definitions and categorizations of parody. Charaudeau underscores the fact that the author presents not only a set of discourse theories, but her own theoretical instrument in a very original manner.
Parodie et Analyse du Discours [Parody and Discourse Analysis] is divided into five chapters, which are briefly summarized here, and a conclusion. The first chapter La parodie: premieres approches [Parody: First Approaches] presents, as evidenced by the title, the main theories of parody. The author establishes a dialogue with Quintilian, Cicero, Tynyanov, Genette, Barthes, and Bakhtin, among other Brazilian and French authors, in order to illustrate the theoretical path set by her.
In the second chapter, Parodie et Semiolinguistique [Parody and Semiolinguistics], the author focuses on the Semiolinguistic Theory (ST) developed by Patrick Charaudeau, which provides researchers with freedom to analyze the interpretation of different groups of texts. Machado emphasizes the relevance of the countless possibilities ST creates to analyze eventual interpretations of social discourses, regardless of their origin.
The third chapter, entitled La Parodie: Essai de Classification [Parody: A Classification Essay], which is among the most important chapters of the book, aims at classifying parody. This is one of the researcher's main contributions to the theme. One of the book's central issues is detailed here: Is parody a genre, or is it included in a bigger genre due the effects of genre? After all, what is parody, this delicate object? In a thorough work of research, Machado discusses the notion of discourse genre, taking up the concepts of thinkers, such as Bakhtin and Jean Peytard, her doctoral dissertation advisor in Bensançon, France. From this notion of genre, the author analyzes two dimensions of the construction of parody transgression.
At this point, Machado resumes the definition of transgressive genre, which has been part of her work for years. For the author, a genre is transgressive when it dares to combine different types of discourse that originally had different objectives before becoming an amalgam. In Machado's words, this combination may become unprecedented; therefore, it is necessary to consider that the accord that consolidates this merging of genres is represented by an intent to express irony towards someone or something. Parody makes it possible to laugh at what is serious and to mock what is preconceived; in sum, it contains that same movement that generates its creation, that is, the origin of generic transgression.
Based on Bakhtin, Machado concludes that parody is carnivalized discourse, a socio-ritualized phenomenon whose essence can be conveyed in oral or written discourse. The issue of parody reception and its two possible natures - more evident and more subtle - is addressed in the fourth chapter of the book, entitled Parodie: Mise en Forme et Reception [Parody: Form and Reception]. The final chapter Parodie & Argumentation [Parody & Argumentation] presents a brief view of parody as an argumentative phenomenon, exploring perspectives and argumentative dimensions.
The originality of Machado's research on parody has been recognized in France for a number of years. In 2002, the French professor and theorist Dominique Maingueneau called reader's attention to the author's work in the entry captation in the Dictionnaire D'Analyse du Discours [Dictionary of Discourse Analysis]. Maingueneau mentions the importance of considering how to capture a reader's attention through parody. He points out Machado's reflection on the ambiguous position of the subject that parodies in relation to the subject of the parody, situated between fidelity and infidelity, proximity and distance.
The ambiguity between the subject that parodies and the subject of the parody, which Maingueneau discussed based on Machado, is present in most of the author's work. In her work, parody is considered a language phenomenon, a transgressive genre, born to violate established order, to disorganize what's been already said, written, or shown, being somewhat accepted by a community of listeners, readers, or spectators.
I dare to venture that this 134-page work, published in French and not yet translated into Portuguese, is a summary and an acknowledgement of part of the author's work and the content of the courses she taught in the Graduate Program in Linguistic Studies at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais - UFMG [Federal University of Minas Gerais] and of her countless academic works in Brazil and France.
This book is part of the collection Langue et Parole: Recherches en Sciences du Langage [Langue and Parole: Researchers in Language Sciences], directed by Henri Boyer from the Université de Montpellier 3. Among the collection objectives is the publication of individual and collective works done in the theoretical and methodological field of Language Sciences, particularly those that promote controversy and debate.
I agree with Charaudeau that Machado has written a creative work that points to the very first element, an important one, that incites us to look for answers posed by Machado herself: Do we live in a cultural universe that tends to parody itself infinitely? If that is true, why do we need parody? Reading this book can hint at the answer to this questions. Moreover, if the author states that this is not a closed-ended question, we can expect her to publish a second book on parody.
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
Jan-Apr 2017
History
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Received
01 June 2016 -
Accepted
29 Sept 2016
