Irony

Summary

Dominique Pagani first approaches irony through Hegel's aesthetics, where humour and irony form the last stage of art and close every aesthetic cycle1. From this he draws a constant: subjective irony characterises the final phase of an artistic period, from Aristophanes to Heine2. In this way, Musset opens the terminal phase of Romanticism. He distinguishes irony from true humour: humour is self-mockery, not irony aimed at the other3. He also gives irony a logical significance: an idea is a concept pushed to the point of irony, that is, to its maximum of truth4. Finally, he comments on the phrase "the eternal irony of the community", in which irony is the concept that links femininity and community. He notes that the word "eternal" is rare in a thinker of historical relativity5. He also specifies that this irony of the community is not the privilege of femininity.

1. 1At the bistro (part 2)19 Jun 2016 · 14:28
2. 2#9 Pictures at an Exhibition: art, seen from here or from the other side?10 Feb 2022 · 58:21
3. 3#9 Romantic irony and the Vinteuil sonata15 Jan 2021 · 36:25
4. 4#9 Romantic irony and the Vinteuil sonata15 Jan 2021 · 47:04
5. 5#10.1 The eternal irony of the community22 Sept 2021 · 8:42

Summary produced automatically from 7 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.