harrison on irony

Irony is the trope of detachment. (108)

Irony is the innermost truth of a civilization that knows how to lie to itself about itself, or how to bury under deceptive veils a truth that would otherwise destroy it. (141)

As the trope of detachment, irony implies a critical relationship to the past. From an "enlightened" perspective, the ways of the past appear erroneous, self-deceived, and steeped in superstition. What tradition held to be true Enlightenment sees as false. (The sky was once believed to be an animate substance, but "we know better".) At the most fundamental level, then, irony demystifies the dogmas of faith and exposes their roots in falsehood. (114-115)

- from Forests: The Shadow of Civilization by Robert Pogue Harrison