Black humor and irony

Black humor turns sad or serious topics into comedy

Black (or dark) humor is one way which postmodern fiction deals with the depressing complexities of modern life. Black humor can be defined as a type of humor that involves topics that are normally considered ‘taboo’, meaning for instance too painful, sad, or embarrassing to discuss. Examples of such topics could be WW2, abortion, or vio…

...

Irony makes us laugh at the absurdity of life

Irony is another way to deal with modern life which is frequently used in postmodern texts. It can be defined as a situation where there is a (often humorous) clash between expectations and reality/truth. One example would be a main character that spends the entire book warning against the dangers of drink, only to die from alcohol poisoning in the end. 

Irony can take many forms or come in the form of self-irony. It may be found in just one sentence or throughout an entire work. Also, metafiction, pastiche, and intertextuality are …