Chapter 2 considers the nature of literary communication from the perspective of relevance theory. The starting point is the assumption that in reading literature we operate using the same principles as we use in the understanding of everyday utterances. Literary communication is not distinct from ‘ordinary’ communication. At the same time, there are some circumstances and features which are characteristic of literature, though not exclusive to it. These are the foci of this chapter. It begins by discussing the historical and cultural distance between authors and readers, and how this distance is negotiated in the reading of literary texts. The chapter then attends to the relevance theoretic view that poetic effects are achieved via the exploration of a range of weak implicatures. Metaphor is related to other uses of language such as hyperbole via the idea that language can represent thought loosely, and ad hoc concepts are constructed routinely in interpretation. Irony, similarly, is related to other uses of language such as quoting or attributing, using the relevance theoretic notion of interpretive use. Finally the chapter suggests that fiction itself is a kind of speculative interpretive use. The topics discussed here are expanded on in the chapters which follow.

Chapter 8 discusses in detail the relevance-theoretic approach to metaphor. This includes the conception of metaphor giving rise to a range of weak implicatures for the reader’s exploration, and the idea that metaphor is a case of loose use, related to other kinds of loose use like hyperbole, and involving the construction of an ad hoc concept. The chapter presents the argument that this view of metaphor is more efficient than Gricean and stylistic approaches in a number of ways. This account makes no distinction between the literal and the figurative, needs no staged model of comprehension, no notion of flouting maxims and no apparatus which distinguishes between tenor, ground and vehicle, or between target and source. The chapter represents the enterprise of this book in showing that literary language can be accounted for in the same terms as other communicative uses of language. It also expands on the notion of poetic effects introduced in earlier chapters. Recent developments and debates in relevance theory on metaphor are included here. The arguments are illustrated with attention to single metaphors from Shakespeare’s Hamlet and from ‘The Armadillo’ by Elizabeth Bishop, and the extended metaphor in ‘Winter my Secret’ by Christina Rossetti.

In Chapter 7 we focus on the shift from direct, explicit insults to the more indirect and implicit ones. We argue that explicitness exists on a continuum, making it difficult to draw a clear boundary between where implicitness ends and explicitness begins. We categorise our data into more explicit and less explicit language. Less explicit language includes offensive meanings which are expressed through hinting, insinuating, implying and suggesting. We compare our corpus of explicit language with a less explicit one to explore the differences between the two. Our analysis reveals that themes such as gender, racial and age biases are commonly used in the less explicit corpus. These biases are perpetuated through seemingly polite language, rhetorical questions and comments that indirectly and subtly attack the target’s identity. We examine how implicatures arise from specific word choices. We also discuss weak and strong implicatures, and how they can be used in a way that leaves room for potential deniability. Along the way, we also focus on what we call unmarked offensive implicatures.