Abstract
The chapter deals with specifics of the language use in the book S prominutím řečeno (Excuse my words) by Michael Žantovský, former presidential spokesman, ambassador and politician (Prostor 2023). The subtitle of the book (My life among the celebrated and the powerful) suggests a memoir genre.
But, in the introduction, the author warns the readers about a relatively high level of fictitiousness of his text. The most prominent feature defining the book is irony (and self-irony) as a result of metapragmatic/metacommunicative awareness (reflexive use of language).
Though the book describes real persons and real locations, the narration is ridden by reflexive use of idioms, clichés and quotations. What seems the most cogent description for such use of language is the concept of irony in the viewpoint of relevance theory.
In this framework, verbal irony is seen as a subtype of interpretative/echoic use of language - the producer interprets one of the potential meanings of his text and indicates his attitude towards it. In the book, we can see a meta-representative text aimed at the potential first-level procession of stories about meeting 'the celebrated and the powerful'.
In addition to that, Žantovský admits his inspiration by the works of Woody Allen.