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Failed Writer's Journey: Do We Need Irony? [1]

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Date: 2025-02-07

There is apparently a bit of a debate about the usefulness of irony in this day and age. One of my favorite writers, Charlie Jane Anders, comes down firmly on the side of yes. I am not so sure I agree. It is not so much that I think that irony is bad, somehow, and more that I think it is ineffective or counter-productive.

Before we begin, you should read the whole essay. It’s a fascinating look at how irony and sincerity have played out against each other and in the various culture wars this country has had the good fortune to be blessed with.

Anders, who again, is an excellent writer and you should go out and pre-order her new book right away (I’ll wait), claims essentially that irony, like emotionally sincere works, is a means of showing the truth:

The notion that irony means disdaining powerful and sincere emotion feels like it relies on a very limited definition of irony. As I explain in the essay linked above, irony isn’t just a means of stripping meaning from anything — it can also be an exercise in juxtaposition, to reveal the truth rather than saying there is no truth. … At the same time, Beers was right: we need the real kind of irony — the kind that points out the disconnect between what people say and what they do. The kind that points out the unintended (or maybe secretly-intended) consequences of people’s actions. The kind that skewers hypocrisy but also reveals the things that really do matter.

While I believe this to be true, I also believe that it is only true for a very small group of people. Irony, I think, requires a common language, a set of commonly understood tropes and idioms and ideas and views of the world in order for the reversal to be understood. My sentence earlier in this piece about the culture wars is, if you know anything about my politics and opinions, not meant to be taken sincerely. However, it could absolutely be read sincerely by people who approve of right-wing values or by people who think that it is good to live in “important” times. If you do not share my outlook enough to understand the possibility that I do not, in fact, approve then the irony is invisible to you.

Or take Martin Scorsese.

Two of his films, the Wolf of Wall Street and Goodfellas probably try to use Ander’s definition of irony as much as any popular film. To me, and people who share my worldview, I think that Wolf and Goodfellas clearly show their characters as bad people at best, pathetic losers at worst. But to people who believe in the hyper-capitalism of the modern world, that is clearly not the case. To them, the characters are people who lived interesting, fun lives and didn’t really suffer much for their actions. If you don’t have the common language, then you do not have the basis for making irony work. But if you do have a common language, then the ironic turns feel flat, telegraphed, perhaps. At any rate, I don’t think they are as revealing, in most cases, as the author intends.

Now, maybe that is just a function of me not being a good enough writer (it does say Failed Writer’s Journey on the door, after all) to properly use the tools. And maybe film and television, with their focus on images are a poor means of communicating irony. But I really do think that irony is self-limiting. Without that common understanding, something in short supply in this country today, it just doesn’t work.

It is not that I think irony is bad or does not have uses. It is just that I don’t think it reaches a lot of people. I think sincerity is probably better at communicating truth that irony because more people will understand your sincere point than your ironic point.

Regardless, read the essay and pre-order the book. You won’t regret either.

Weekly Word Count

6350 this week. And, apparently, the fifty is important.

I have settled into about six thousand words a week. That is kind of slow, and it means about two more months to finish the first draft of the tech abortion novel (I need a MUCH better logline than that for it). So I won’t make the NHL trade deadline, as was my initial hope, but maybe before the start of the baseball season.

Apparently, I measure everything by their relationship to sports seasons. I am such an irredeemable nerd.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

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