No. 41-42 (2025)
Did irony truly vanish from literature after postmodernism, or has it merely resurfaced in new forms and contexts? Alexandre Gefen has recently put forward a compelling thesis about a fundamental transformation in contemporary writing, which now turns more decisively toward therapeutic and autobiographical reflection. In this returning to the essential necessity of writing, literature diminishes the authority of its high-art ideologies yet regains existential and social relevance. Within this renewed framework, we can observe fresh deployments of irony and novel ironic sensibilities among writers. Postmodern pan-irony fades and the critical and engaged ironist returns—employing irony as a vital self-therapeutic instrument, while redefining its functions and boundaries. This transformation is mirrored in the reader, who revisits texts assumed to be ironic and uncovers the author’s subtle strategies for calibrating irony’s impact. The convergence of irony and autobiography in contemporary writing, and in literary scholarship itself, thus emerges as one of the defining phenomena of our time. Its evolving formulas may shape the trajectory of literature and literary studies for years to come.
In this issue, irony and autobiography intersect in multiple ways, each becoming a framework for the other’s scholarly and creative explorations. Edyta Żyrek-Horodyska highlights the significance of autobiographical spaces in a reportage about Detroit—a city reclaimed by the writer with striking sincerity. Krzysztof Gajda examines the reception of the autobiographical work by Jacek Kaczmarski’s daughter, whose confessional narrative was subjected to intense media scrutiny that imposed an unintended layer of irony. Natalia Teklik investigates Polish women’s autobiographical writing, demonstrating how it, unironically, reclaims subjectivity. In Tomasz Gruszczyk’s article, the autobiographical dimensions of Urszula Zajączkowska’s ecocritical writing are interpreted as part of a biosemiotic project, where nature—treated as a serious and equal partner—emerges as a vital context for her work. Bartosz Kowalczyk presents a daring reinterpretation of Bruno Schulz’s short stories, revealing strategies for curbing irony and even constructing a deliberate model of post-ironic literature. Adrian Kaleta revisits Zyta Oryszyn’s writing, showing how she both constrained and harnessed irony to articulate the despair of life under a totalitarian regime and to forge forms of resistance against oppression.
Several articles in this issue do not directly engage with its central themes, yet they provide valuable contextual insights. Monika Kowalik revisits the work of Andrzej Łuczeńczyk, a nearly forgotten writer once championed by the critic Henryk Bereza. Irony in his writing functions less as playful detachment than as a means of initiation into existential horror. To illuminate this dimension, Kowalik draws on Jean Nabert’s philosophy of the unjustifiable—an essential framework for grasping the fundamental condition of human existence. Piotr Kubiński traces the unexpected evolution of contemporary video games. Rather than overwhelming players with sensory excess or ironizing every theme, recent productions cultivate serenity, temper their effects, and invite patient, contemplative engagement. They encourage not only calm but also a deeper, more serious mode of reflection. Complementing this discussion, Yixiang Chen writes about the remarkable reception of Roman Ingarden’s literary thought in China, further enriching the thematic scope of this issue.
The research on irony and autobiography presented in this issue of Forum of Poetics traces the current shift from irony toward the new literary forms of therapeutic and autobiographical writing and points to the emergence of distinct modes of autobiographical irony and ironic autobiography—modalities that may shape future paradigms of literature and literary studies. They demand urgent critical attention.
