Post-irony

Post-irony (from Latin post 'after' and Ancient Greek εἰρωνεία eirōneía 'dissimulation, feigned ignorance'[1]) is a term used to denote a state in which earnest and ironic intents become muddled. It may less commonly refer to its converse: a return from irony to earnestness, similar to New sincerity.

In literature, David Foster Wallace is often described as the founder of a "postironic" literature. His essays "E Unibus Pluram"[2] and "Fictional Futures and the Conspicuously Young" describe and hope for a literature that goes beyond postmodern irony.[3] Other authors often described as postironic are Dave Eggers,[4] Tao Lin,[5] and Alex Shakar.[6][7]

  1. ^ Liddell & Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, v. sub εἰρωνεία. Archived 2021-08-15 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Post-Irony Is the Only Thing Left in the World That Gets a Reaction - Vice
  3. ^ Wallace, David Foster. "E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction", Review of Contemporary Fiction 13(2), Summer 1993, pp. 151-194.
  4. ^ Jensen, Mikkel. 2014. "A Note on a Title: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" in The Explicator, 72:2, 146–150. [1]
  5. ^ David Foster Wallace was right: Irony is ruining our culture|Salon.com
  6. ^ Hoffmann, Lukas (2016). Postirony: The Nonfictional Literature of David Foster Wallace and Dave Eggers. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8376-3661-1.
  7. ^ Konstantinou, Lee (2016). Cool Characters: Irony and American Fiction. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674967885.