This question always upsets me. Enrages me even! Did irony “live”? I argue that it is dangerous to construe such concepts as actually having a life. As if our participation in “irony” or “sarcasm” or “earnestness” as a noticeable trend was breathing life into some jumbo plastic blow-up green dinosaur thingie, which then towered over our society and sometimes extruded fire from one end and pellets of irony and dinosaur poop from the other. As if through different times in our history, we were ruled by one of these beasts, which then passed on, only to be replaced by the erection (tee hee!) of another monster in our town square. It’s a terrible view of history, to think, “Oh, 1890 to 1901 and 1986 to 9/11, THOSE are the decades of the Irony Monster!” And oh, “1964, or whatever, THAT is the year that God died.” Well, then, where was she before? On a big floaty cloud over your local office of Jesus Industries? And where was this alleged irony dragon? Did it live in Graydon Carter’s townhouse basement until the terrorists came? History just isn’t handy enough for this idea.