Friday, March 4, 2011

Can Literature Be Funny? (Sadly, the Answer is No.)

Welcome to the Literary Blog Hop

Gilion from Rose City Reader asks:
Can literature be funny?
What is your favorite humorous literary book?

Sadly, I did not know the answer to this important question.
I turned to my esteemed colleague, Doktor Büks.

Me: Doktor Büks, I have been asked whether literature can be funny.
What do you think?
Doktor Büks: No! Never! Nein! Ze literachure zhat iz important is zerious.
Pleaze! Iz zhere funny literachure?! Abzurd!

There you have it. Literature is not funny.

So think carefully about this
before deciding to spend your life
reading Literature.
Lots of very big words
in big thick books.
Plus, no laughing.


This blog hop is open to blogs
that primarily feature book reviews
of literary fiction, classic literature,
and general literary discussion.
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24 comments:

  1. mpartykaMarch 4, 2011 at 7:02 AM

    Love it, as you know I wasn't able to think of anything funny either. I'm surprised how funny people think Shakesspeare is!

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  2. Harvee/Book DilettanteMarch 4, 2011 at 7:49 AM

    Dead Souls by Gogol, a Russian classic, about landowners who benefit by pretending their dead serfs are still alive, and that they have tons of serfs, is one of the funniest books I've read. Try it!

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  3. DJLMarch 4, 2011 at 8:01 AM

    Awesome, though the only way I can find literature funny is usually through a performance of it, as with Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing or Twelfth Night. I must get the number of this doktor for a friend of mine. ;)

    Happy reading!
    DJL

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  4. As the Crowe Flies and ReadsMarch 4, 2011 at 8:07 AM

    Fun post!

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  5. FalaiseMarch 4, 2011 at 9:49 AM

    Excellent post - very funny itself!

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  6. Roof Beam ReaderMarch 4, 2011 at 10:15 AM

    Hilarious! I was almost angry..but then, I thought, there might be something else going on here... ;)

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  7. LBCMarch 4, 2011 at 10:47 AM

    Ha!Cheeky.

    Bartleby the Scrivner-hilarious.

    Thanks for stopping by my blog.

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  8. lisa :)March 4, 2011 at 1:44 PM

    I love to point people toward Mark Twain and Jonathan Swift when they argue that literature and humor are separate genres. Nice post! :)

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  9. Susan (Reading World)March 4, 2011 at 3:27 PM

    Hmmm. You may have a point. The more depressed I feel at the end of a book, the better I think the book must have been.

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  10. Deb Nance at ReaderbuzzMarch 4, 2011 at 3:30 PM

    Excellent, Susan. I agree totally. I may quote you. ;->

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  11. @parridhlanternMarch 4, 2011 at 6:00 PM

    The problem with experts is that they can never agree, in fact it's been proven statisticaly (Heidelburg Stadt University for Satistical analysis & Damned Lies), that for every professorial opinion, yopu can find 15.07 alternate opinions. In fact I was speaking to Dr Zarathrustra von Slappenstick, whilst researching this question earlier to day, during his answer the one bit I understood was Yes there is between 1 & 99.5% humour in some books of literary worth.

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  12. Deb Nance at ReaderbuzzMarch 4, 2011 at 6:54 PM

    Thank you for sharing your scientific data, parrish lantern. Much appreciated. ;->

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  13. Mel uMarch 4, 2011 at 9:19 PM

    Fun counter post-reminds me of the lead in for a Borat skit on the great literary works of Kakastain!

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  14. Deb Nance at ReaderbuzzMarch 4, 2011 at 9:40 PM

    Must definitely check out the lead in for the Borat skit on the great literary works of Kakastain!

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  15. Sharon WilfongMarch 4, 2011 at 10:12 PM

    What a cute blog!! I'm now following you.

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  16. LouiseMarch 4, 2011 at 10:45 PM

    Ha. Doktor Buks triumphs again.

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  17. UnknownMarch 4, 2011 at 10:51 PM

    Deb Nance, you crack me up! Therefore, you must not be very literary, since we all know that literature is not humorous...on which shelf in the library do you think you may be found? :)

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  18. AnonymousMarch 5, 2011 at 12:37 AM

    Why oh why would you ever pick up something big heavy and filled with words to find a laugh, when there are such easy options like watching TV, playing on the internet, listening to talk radio, or watching the stock market?

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  19. AnonymousMarch 5, 2011 at 4:53 AM

    You're right. My sons have been right all this time. There ain't nothing funny in no literature book.

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  20. Deb Nance at ReaderbuzzMarch 5, 2011 at 6:52 AM

    Luckily, Heather, libraries are not devoted entirely to books with literary value. Someone has even managed to find a shelf for me in my library. I can't read the scrawl very well, but it looks like someone has written "Weeded" on a piece of tape just under my shelf.

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  21. Deb Nance at ReaderbuzzMarch 5, 2011 at 7:10 AM

    Such wise, wise commenters on this post. And, given the mess that is our state economy, with proposed cuts to education, including libraries and PreK programs, I think that perhaps we will not have to long worry about whether Literature is Funny or Serious as no one will be able to read much of anything anyway.

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  22. RedMarch 5, 2011 at 8:35 AM

    Very cute post and I love the picture :)

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  23. Darlyn (Your Move, Dickens)March 5, 2011 at 9:09 PM

    Funny post. LOL.

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  24. LoniMarch 6, 2011 at 8:49 PM

    Hahaha! I have to disagree with the good Doktor.

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