GREIL MARCUS ON IRONY

"Irony is just a form of self-protection. It's a way of pretending you didn't mean what you said. It's a back door. And it's not in the art that I respond to."

This was on the WFMU program the Speakeasy from Oct 9 2006. I'm sure he's said this elsewhere, in a book or whatever, as it sounded deeply felt and thought out.

I do feel I abused by irony these days; I am also a perpetrator, need to quit it. Sometimes I just mean what I say and don't need to undercut i twith ironic winking just so I don't get accused of soft-rock sincerity.