Hmm…A.M. Avril Mondragon. Both Canadians.

Now we can have a discussion about the intentional fallacy.

I think this was discussed a lot right after David died and people were trying to find suicide notes and calls for help and red flags all over his work.

IMHO, DFW was frustrated by being thought of as a wunderkind, known mostly for literary pyrotechnics and footnotes (which some considered pretentious). As his later work suggests and as is evident in Oblivion, This is Water and, as I understand it, The Pale King,
he was approaching the authentic, be-here-now sensibility. Sometimes I wonder if his attempts to wean from his medication were a (misguided) attempt to achieve the kind of pure consciousness one associates
w/ Buddhism. For me, the takeaway from DFW (aside from overall delight and awe and usage) is empathy.

Types of irony

These modern theories of rhetoric distinguish between three types of irony: verbal, dramatic and situational.

* Verbal irony is a disparity of expression and intention: when a speaker says one thing but means another, or when a literal meaning is contrary to its intended effect. An example of this is sarcasm.
* Dramatic irony is a disparity of expression and awareness: when words and actions possess a significance that the listener or audience understands, but the speaker or character does not.
* Situational irony is the disparity of intention and result: when the result of an action is contrary to the desired or expected effect. Likewise, cosmic irony is disparity between human desires and the harsh realities of the outside world (or the whims of the gods). By some definitions, situational irony and cosmic irony are not irony at all.

These are fleshed out somewhat in the entry.

If anyone would know the precise meaning(s) of irony it would be Our Man.

The fish-and-water “joke” is very appropriate here, and so many other places too.

Obviously if we didn’t know who Oedipus’s real parents were (and neither did he), we’d be left with the earnest version of that play in which Oedipus successfully evades the prophecy by murdering a king in another town and marrying the king’s wife. Not nearly as good.