David Ives' Time Flies and/as Parody

Abstract

Parody as a type of literary creation can be seen from two perspectives: one is its formal meaning in its lexical and linguistic context, and the other is its social and/or cultural functions. When seen in the shade of these two (formal and functional) contexts simultaneously, the meaning it gets becomes innumerable and serves as a deconstructive force to challenge the desire for closure. The study of a literary text from this perspective finds an interesting and limitless scope. Taking David Ives’ short play, Time Flies, as an example, we try to expound on and reveal the true potentiality of parody along with the critical reading of the play itself. In fact, our reading demonstrates the critical power of parody especially in a postmodern context. Going through many postmodern critics, we try to show that parody is the best means of representing postmodern condition, the incredulity to metanarratives in literature and/or art.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n5s2p158