Here is a good list from the UK Guardian on the "Top 10 Satires."
The only one I've read is Catch-22 (long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away).
Coupla TBRs in here:
1) Um, didn't know Cervantes wrote stories.
2) Dickens, always.
What he missed (!!!):
Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
Animal Farm, George Orwell (which I have yet to read)
What are your favorite satires?Has anyone read some of the Guardian choices? Any recommendations?
Looks like I will have to select a Selected Satire Month for my 2008 reading!
4 comments:
I didn't know Cervantes wrote stories either. I'm not nearly finished with it, but I'd lump "Don Quixote" on that list. Or maybe we just be glad Cervantes made the list at all.
I'm surprised there's no Vonnegut on that list. "Cat's Cradle," anyone? And I've never read "Catch-22," but I can't say that I really want to (yet).
Interesting that you see "Huck Finn" as a satire. Personally, I've never viewed it as such. And I agree with you about "Animal Farm." It's a one-sitting read, so chop-chop, Ms. LK! (Incidentally, would "1984" qualify as a satire?)
Nice linkage. I'm guessing he left Gulliver's Travels and Animal Farm off the list because they are the obvious choices -- the ones high-schoolers read when learning about satire.
I wouldn't advise pushing Animal Farm towards the top of your TBR anytime soon -- it's a fine book and all, but I always found it a little childish. It certainly wasn't at the time it was published, when matters of life, death, and censorship were concerned, but I think it reads like a relic.
Nothing against relics.
I'm glad he got something 18C on that list (how could he NOT?), although I would have chosen Swift over Pope. Perhaps, though, he chose The Dunciad because it's not read as often as Swift.
How about Swift's A Modest Proposal? I haven't read a single book on that list--though I have heard good things about the Cusk book.
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