POSTMODERN NON-LAUGHTER IRONY IN OŚCI BY I. KARPOWICZ AND FRUTCHEN BY T. HAVRYLIV

AbstractBackground. Irony and laughter in postmodern carnival prose are interrelated, yet notinterdependent. Irony is traditionally defined in terms of its laughter-causing trend; however,postmodern irony can be not funny. Its predominating sign is meaning ambiguity resulting from thegap between pronounced and non-pronounced. Irony is traced both in a meaning-shaping aspect(in which case both a message, and a code matter, and separate fragments of an ironic utterancegain significance), and in an intertextually-formal aspect of irony as a stylistic device and anexpression of the overall postmodern ironic mind. Purpose. The article seeks to trace the narrative forms of the ironic game’s domination as anarrative pattern and composition principle of the prose by postmodern writers. The research employs the methods of narrative analysis and receptive aesthetics. Results. The meaning vector of Ignacy Karpowicz’s narrative strategy in his Ości tends tocreate a peculiar range of polysemy, which, among other meanings, is implied in the book title. Thetitle’s polysemy transits to the level on non-pronounced, to “ness”, which indicates a leftover fromthe verbalized. The intertextually-formal aspect of the irony determines the novel’s receptivestrategy. The reader has to read characters’ “true” story following the picture provided by thenarrator. The reader is offered a detailed picture of their thinking and self-analysis. The authorseems to be kidding at the techniques innate in formula-based genres, inheriting them and breakingstereotypes at the same time. An ironic effect is produced via hints, understatements, unexpectedapproaches to representation. The “narrative” irony is combined with irony over contemporarytrends in literary studies and postmodern philosophical discussions. Irony becomes not onlypolysemic, but multidimensional: it unfolds on the surface of the text like language and narrativegame and alludes to other texts, emphasizing the need for professional interpretation. Frutchen byTymofiy Havryliv is explored in terms of conceptual comparison with “S / Z” by R. Barthes, wherehe outlines the principles of deconstructive analysis. T. Havryliv seems to be following reverselogic; he constructs his text as a reflection of the way to read a hermeneutic code declared by R.Barthes, he walks his reader through all “twists” of deconstructive thinking. A complex system ofnarrators and narrative in the story makes a multidimensional irony over the theme, forms andnorms of academic presentation and formula-based fiction texts. Discussion. The article outlines the forms of non-laughter irony and traces its impact on thecreation of polysemy of the postmodern fiction text. Besides, it indicates narrative devices andreceptive strategies used by the authors. In future, it is necessary to focus on the correlationbetween laughter and non-laughter poetics to emphasize ironic postmodern thinking in fiction texts.