Post-irony explained

Post-irony (from Latin Latin: post 'after' and Ancient Greek Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: εἰρωνεία Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: 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]}

Overview

Whereas in postmodern irony, something is meant to be cynically mocked and not taken seriously, and in New Sincerity, something is meant to be taken seriously or "unironically", post-irony combines these two elements by either having something absurd taken seriously or be unclear as to whether something is meant to be ironic.

One example given is the film :

A central element of post-irony is the obfuscation, ambiguity, watering-down, degradation, or simple lack of meaning and intent in statements and artwork, and whether the creator or disseminator intends this to be celebrated, decried, or met apathetically can itself be part of this uncertainty. As journalist Dmitry Lisovsky writes, "Post-ironic memes [...] don't even have to be of great quality: I once took 10 random pictures from a few post-ironic meme communities and shuffled the captions between them. Users had a hard time telling the difference between the new ones and those that came before."^[8] Post-irony, meta-irony, and the often vague deconstruction and reconstruction of irony in general, are common elements in millennial and zoomer humor.^[9] Post-irony has been stated to be utilized in internet memes to spread disinformation and as a tool to radicalize people into extremist communities, especially relating to the American alt-right and related movements.^{[10] [11] [12] [13]}

Criticism

In 2003, Zoe Williams described the increasing popularity of the term with disapproval:^[14]

See also

• Absurdism
• Dog whistle (politics)
• Gaslighting
• Guerrilla ontology
• Metamodernism
• Poe's Law
• Independent film

External links

• Hirschorn, Michael. "Diary" Slate Magazine
• Shaviro, Steven. “Prophecies of the Present,” Socialism and Democracy, vol. 24, no.2
• Sincerity, Not Irony, Is Our Age's Ethos - The Atlantic

Notes and References

1. Liddell & Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, v. sub Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: εἰρωνεία.
2. https://www.vice.com/da/article/6vm4md/the-past-explains-our-present-wave-of-post-irony 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. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00144940.2014.905434
5. https://www.salon.com/2014/04/13/david_foster_wallace_was_right_irony_is_ruining_our_culture/ David Foster Wallace was right: Irony is ruining our culture|Salon.com
6. Book: Hoffmann. Lukas. Postirony: The Nonfictional Literature of David Foster Wallace and Dave Eggers. 2016. transcript Verlag. Bielefeld. 978-3-8376-3661-1.
7. Book: Konstantinou. Lee. Cool Characters: Irony and American Fiction. 2016. Harvard University Press. Cambridge, MA. 978-0674967885.
8. Web site: Lisovsky . Dmitry . On the Origin of Memes: Meme Scientist Explains Post-Irony and Future of Internet Culture . Itmo.News . ITMO University . 27 February 2022 . third-to-last paragraph . Vadim Galimov (translator) . 13 December 2018 . Today, post-ironic memes are the thing. They don't even have to be of great quality: I once took 10 random pictures from a few post-ironic meme communities and shuffled the captions between them. Users had a hard time telling the difference between the new ones and those that came before..
9. Web site: Oliver Sotirios Bourne . May 14, 2020 . Understanding Gen Z: Post-ironic Humour . WYSPR . 27 February 2022.
10. Greene. Viveca S.. Rasmussen. Makena. Clark. Dutch. 2021. Memeology: Normalizing Hate Through Humour?. The Journal of Intelligence, Conflict, and Warfare. 4. 2. 75–80. 10.21810/jicw.v4i2.2962. 2561-8229. free.
11. Greene . V.S. . 2019 . "Deplorable" Satire: Alt-Right Memes, White Genocide Tweets, and Redpilling Normies . Studies in American Humor . 5 . 1 . 31–69 . 10.5325/studamerhumor.5.1.0031 . 167093926 .
12. Book: Make America Meme Again: The Rhetoric of the Alt-right . Woods . H.S. . Hahner . L.A. . Peter Lang . 2019 . 978-1433159749 . 45 . Frontiers in Political Communication.
13. Nagel . K.W. . Book Reviews: Make America Meme Again: The Rhetoric of the Alt-Right . Quarterly Journal of Speech . 216–219 . 2020 . 10.1080/00335630.2020.1744818 . 106 . 2. 216492882 .
14. Williams, Zoe. "The final irony", The Guardian, June 27, 2003.