ideasCraig Stroupe | Associate Professor of Information Design | Department of Writing Studies | 1201 Ordean Court # 420 | University of Minnesota Duluth | Duluth, MN 55812 | 218-726-6249 | fax 218-726-6882 | cstroupe@d.umn.edu

Iconic / Informational vs.
Elaborated / Literary Discourses

Rather than categorizing representations into one of two groups, the differences here represent two tendencies that contend for dominance in any piece of writing or design.

Iconic / Informational

meaning immediate
concrete
literal
explicit
univocal
action-oriented
unironic

Elaborated / Literary

meaning deferred
abstract
figurative
implicit
dialogical
reflective
ironic

These distinctions are adapted from

Easthope, Anthony. Literary into Cultural Studies. London: Routledge, 1991.

See also my handout Elaborated and Iconic Literary Styles (.doc)