THE STYLISTICS OF CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS’ HUMOUR IN PUBLIC DEBATES

Abstract

Christopher Hitchens was an Anglo-American author, journalist and
literary critic who fought almost every major religion, saying that religion prevents
people from being rational. He was a proponent of secularism and a fierce critic of
religion in general. Much of his work, as well as his debates and speeches, focused
on his contempt for religion. The aim of this article is to analyze, from the point of
view of linguistic stylistics, the unique form of humor used by Christopher Hitchens,
which is professional, elegant and sophisticated but, at the same time, informative
and concise, his argumentation flawless and his logic indisputable. He was known
for his provocative argumentation style, characterized by the use of irony, sarcasm
and, at times, dark humor to challenge conventional wisdom and question authority.
The analysis will focus on two videos.