Postironic Sensibility in My Appearance by David Foster Wallace

This paper aims to show how David Foster Wallace uses the story My Appearance to convey his ideas on postmodernism and irony. I argue that two sensibilities, ironic and post-ironic, are represented by the main characters David Letterman and Edilyn, respectively. I briefly outline the ways in which irony is problematic. Then I focus on how the battle between the ironic and the post-ironic is played out during an interview that the above mentioned characters participate in. I also write about the tension inherent in the notion of sincerity. I draw on the works of Adam Kelly and Lukas Hoffmann on postirony as well as a body of literature devoted to irony.