笛福、理查逊和菲尔丁,他们不仅是英国18世纪最具代表性的三位小说家,而且一直被视为现实主义小说家的始祖。认真总结与研究18世纪英国小说的理论和实践,有利于我们在宏观的层面上系统地把握西方小说发展的内在规律。本文以18世纪英国小说中对“反讽”的运用,对以笛福、理查逊和菲尔丁为代表的英国18世纪小说家在小说理论上所作的探索进行考察和剖析,指出18世纪英国小说文体上运用“反讽”所造成的难以理解的原因。 Defoe, Richardson and Fielding, who were not only the three most representative novelists of the 18th century in the United Kingdom, but also the first ancestor of realist novelists. Conscientiously summarizing and studying the theory and practice of 18th-century English novels will help us systematically grasp the inherent law of the development of Western novels on a macro level. Based on the use of “irony” in English novels of the 18th century, this essay explores and explores the novel theory of 18th century English novelists represented by Defoe, Richardson and Fielding, and points out that 18 The Unable to Understand the Causes of “Irony” Used in the English Fiction in the 21st Century.