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Seriousness, irony, and the mission of hyperbole

Carrithers, M.

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Authors

M. Carrithers



Abstract

Seriousness is achieved when a speaker effectively moves the audience according to his or her intentions. But seriousness is fragile and subject to countless vicissitudes, as illustrated in an encounter with the television evangelist Oral Roberts. I interrogate one of the means used to counter such vicissitudes-hyperbole. Hyperbole may include exaggeration and amplification of all kinds, and may be manifest in deeds as well as words. I first follow hyperbole through 9/11 and the competing ideologies of Salafi jihadists and the Bush administration to show how 'absolute metaphors' are enlisted hyperbolically. I examine too how epic narratives are created as a similar form of hyperbole. Finally, I show how sacredness, another allied form of hyperbole, is attributed to the Holocaust in present-day Germany. Throughout I argue, and illustrate, how anthropological writing is of necessity ironic, such that irony is better than 'cultural relativism' as an understanding of the anthropological enterprise.

Citation

Carrithers, M. (2012). Seriousness, irony, and the mission of hyperbole. Religion and Society, 3(1), 51-75. https://doi.org/10.3167/arrs.2012.030104

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Jan 1, 2012
Deposit Date Nov 20, 2012
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Religion and Society
Print ISSN 2150-9298
Electronic ISSN 2150-9301
Publisher Berghahn Journals
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 3
Issue 1
Pages 51-75
DOI https://doi.org/10.3167/arrs.2012.030104

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Copyright Statement
This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedited version of an article published in Religion and society : advances in research. The definitive publisher-authenticated version Carrithers, M. (2012) 'Seriousness, irony, and the mission of hyperbole.', Religion and society : advances in research., 3 (1). pp. 51-75 is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.3167/arrs.2012.030104





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