J. V. Foix and Romantic irony

Abstract

Abstract: This paper is based on the assumption that the general conception of irony cannot be applied to the works by J. V. Foix. Instead, they should be considered in the context of Romantic irony as conceived by Friedrich Schlegel, documented in Ingrid Strohschneider-Kohrs’ research. After defining the term “reflection” as the self-nihilation of the absolute, this paper analyses some of the poet’s prose poems, in which this kind of irony can be identified. In Foix’s writings, frequent meta-reflections on poetry or painting make texts or paintings appear illegible or endowed with great subversive power. A piece like “El Roc pertús” deconstructs the absolute exemplarity and orchestrates a play of ironic refraction, the final consequence of which is an anti-theological turn.

Key words: irony, Romantic irony, German Romanticism, Schlegel, Foix, Avant-gardism.