Even though Wayne Booth claims only a secondary concern for critical theory, [The Rhetoric of Irony] is bound to interest us because of the importance of his Rhetoric of Fiction (1961) and of his stature as an elder statesman of the educational institution. In his preface he … denies being an Aristotelian, sheds doubt on the category "Chicago Critics," rejects general systems or critical schools, and declares himself, in private at least, "an addicted ironist." All of this is surprising, particularly the last, for in The Rhetoric of Fiction Booth found little to praise in the pervasive irony of some of the greatest modern writers. To write ironically about irony, to come from Chicago and ridicule genre theory, ought to be exciting. What comes through in The Rhetoric of Irony, however, is a defensive treatment of the subject which tends to trivialize it. Where his earlier book rejected concentration on...