Warszawski cwaniak. Komizm, humor i ironia w Złym Leopolda Tyrmanda

Abstract

This paper examines the role of comedy, humour and irony in Leopold Tyrmand’s Zły [Wicked]. It arranges these elements and the related concepts in an orderly structure, and from this perspective examines the narrative framework, distinguishing between the source of comedy in the storyteller and in the characters. The author argues that Tyrmand alludes to the myth of the Warsaw slicker and on thus models the novel’s narrator, who is an insider, familiar with the capital’s underworld. The comedy in Zły relies on his mock-ironic gaze that permeates the presented world and the presence of many other characters with a comic sensibility. In the latter context, what is noteworthy is the individualisation through humour, which pertains to both individual characters as well as their social backgorund.