This book presents a theory of the politics of irony and tests this theory through readings of political theory texts and through an analysis of the politics of the contemporary anti-nuclear movement, and argues that political writing must be ironic.

Working as a news photographer in 30s Berlin, Walther Klinger becomes - by a vicious twist of fate - a society photographer for the new aristocracy of the Nazi party. Walther's complicity makes him increasingly cynical and guilty, so that - for him - the coming of war is almost a relief. In a lonely Brittany farmhouse, just before the Allied invasion, Klinger meets Julia. They begin an affair and, against the background of the horrors and normalities of the Occupation, Walther attempts to make a refuge for himself and Julia. THE PARDON OF ST ANNE is about how he succeeds, triumphantly and tragically.