In scientific texts on irony, the problem of intentionality has proven to be a persistentone. In literary studies, the debate centers around two questions: whether literary ironyis always intentional, and how to apply this intentionality in the interpretation of literaryworks. In this article my focus will be on the last question. Starting with a brief overviewof what has been written on irony and intentionality, I will examine three author typesthat have been put forward with regard to the inferring of an ironic intention to an authorby a reader: the empirical author, the implied author, and the postulated author. I willexemplify my findings using examples of Dutch author Harry Mulisch’s so-called ‘selfirony’.
