The word "irony" is widely used nowadays to refer to a tone of voice or an attitude to experience. At the same time, it often strikes us that a turn of events is heavily laden with irony. Here, then, is the question. Can irony actually be found in experience, or is the irony we sometimes find in events also rooted in our personal attitude toward experience?
I've drawn on a few friends in exploring this issue: Jane Austen, Evan S. Connell, Karl Friedrich von Schlegel, Socrates. I've made an attempt to distinguish irony from sarcasm, hyperbole, and mere chance. It isn't a complicated argument, but it's too long to reproduce here. If you're interested in the PDF version just click here.
