Irony as both tragedy and comedy

Abstract

The paper investigates the connection of the concept of irony to that of tragedy and comedy. The connections are surveyed through three different theories of irony (Muecke, de Man, Rorty). I argue that Muecke’s and de Man’s concepts of irony are related to the notion of tragedy, while Rorty’s concept of irony can be related to the notion of comedy instead. The discussion includes the description of the ironic person and of the social dimensions of irony.