The Problematic of Reading Generic Signals in Parodic Discourse

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the double-function of generic signals in double-voiced discourse of parody which involves by its nature the parodied and the parodying voices simultaneously. The paper claims that generic signals, which are supposed to be working mostly at an unconscious level to create a generic context for the reader in interpreting a text, become double-voiced by the parodist’s manipulation and work at a conscious level. It is common that the parody writer barrows and appropriates generic signals of the genre he parodies to indicate the parodied genre and also his departure from this genre. Parodic intentions become palpable immediately with the „parodic stylization” — to use Bakhtin’s term — of the generic signals, which brings about the Bakhtinian refraction of the authorial voice in parody. Since the parody writer intentionally appropriates the speech of the prodied genre, authorial refractions become clearer in parodic discourse. Through studying such refractions with a particular emphasis on genre parodies and specific examples from Cervantes’ Don Quijote, the present study argues that generic signals in parodic discourse assume the double-function of signaling the parodied genre and the parodying voice simultaneously. In order to show how generic signals assume a highly communicative function in parody, this study focuses on texts where the author parodies not a single writer and a single work, but a whole genre with its conventions. As a genre parody which aims for the governing discourse behind the genre it imitates, Cervantes’ Don Quijote produce significant examples that the double-function of generic signals can be seen explicitly through the authorial refractions in the text.