Entre el escepticismo y la autenticidad. Dimensiones afectivas y políticas de la ironía en Historia del llanto de Alan Pauls

Résumé

The present paper discusses the position of irony in the “subjective turn”. Irony has been discredited from the 90s onwards as an apolitical figure of speech, which is incompatible with the traumatic afterlife of events such as 9/11. In Latin America, irony’s position was questioned in the context of political militancy and testimony, but nowadays critics start reevaluating its critical strength. This paper first sketches the general debate on irony, then focuses on its role in postdictatorial Argentine literature of the first and second generation. It then ends with an analysis of Historia del llanto by Alan Pauls. Parting from Zupančič’s theory on comedy, it argues for a reading of the novel with both political militancy and authentic affectivity at the center of irony’s edge.