The Politics of Irony

The Politics of Irony presents ten essays--all previously unpublished and written specifically for this volume--that explore the ironic dimension in politics. Although most scholars hold the respective claims of irony and politics to be irreconcilable, these authors variously examine the wayward premise that politics is perhaps unavoidably ironic. The composition of the volume is uniquely cross-disciplinary, featuring authors from the fields of political theory, women's studies, literature, and philosophy, all of whom address issues that lie at the intersection of these disciplines. The volume is divided into three parts. The first four essays attest to a history of political irony in the works of Plato, Swift, Goethe and Nietzsche; the next four essays examine the contemporary significance of irony in the politics of feminism, interpretation, resistance and postmodern play; and the volume ends with an exchange between Jean Bethke Elshtain and Richard Rorty on the possibility of an ironic commitment to liberal ideas.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.