A. TEXTS
(plus some songs & comic strips)
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James Thurber
a. The Thurber Carnival or Fables for our Time
Thurber's fables are absolutely outstanding satire - here laughter
is really used as a weapon (the very best ones are, in my opinion, "The
Very Proper Gander" and "The Rabbits who Caused all the Trouble" - brilliant)
b. "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" - unique short story
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Any collection of satirical texts by Art Buchwald - e.g. The
Buchwald Stops Here or You CAN Fool All of the People All
the Time
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Jonathan Lynn and Anthony Jay, The Complete Yes Minister
satirizing the British political system - also very successful as a
TV series
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Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five
biting satire on World War II - and war in general
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Joseph Heller, Catch-22
(the film version is also absolutely worth seeing)
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David Lodge, Changing Places
an incredibly funny campus novel
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Bill Bryson, The Lost Continent
the funniest piece of travel writing I've read so far
(opening line: "I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to.")
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Tom Wolfe, The Bonfire of the Vanities
a brilliant satire on life in the Big Apple
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George Orwell, Animal Farm
still a classic piece of satire - fabulous
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Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
fascinating - the film version, though in lots of ways different, is
also highly recommended
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Goscinny & Uderzo:
a. Asterix in Britain - very funny, though poking fun
at the English language comes across better in the German version
b. Asterix the Legionary - lots of hilarious satirical
scenes, esp. concerning (the Roman) bureaucracy when Asterix + Obelix try
to get some information in the Roman H.Q.
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Reinhard Mey, "Ein Stück Musik von Hand gemacht"
song satirizing today's "overplugging" tendencies in popular music
- beautiful irony (" 'ne Stimme, die siich anhört, als ob da jemand
singt")
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Arthur Miller, The Crucible
famous play about witch-hunts in 17th century Salem, Mass.; at the
same time a biting satire on the McCarthy era (Miller before the HUAC,
1956: "The comparison is inevitable, sir.")
The film version starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Winona Ryder is also
very moving
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B. Traven, Das Totenschiff
classic satirical novel
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Stanislaw Lem, "Pirx erzählt"
short story by one of the most outstanding and original science fiction
writers of our time - both a parody of how conventional sf deals with the
classic theme "first contact" and a satirical approach (I do not know whether
there is an English translation - if so, the title might be "Pirx Tells
a Story")
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Frank O'Connor, "First Confession"
a very human short story about a little boy who has to go to confession
for the first time in his life - with a distinct ironical/satirical touch
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Loriot aka Victor von Bülow :
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cont
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B. FILMS
(plus the odd radio play)
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Forrest Gump
this amazing film is actually better than the novel it is based on
(by Winston Groom)
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Life of Brian
pythonesque satire at its best
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Jim Jarmusch, Night on Earth
I strongly recommend the N.Y.C. episode - there are lots of 4-letter-words,
but when you come to think of it, it's very subtle satire
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Billy Wilder, The Front Page
starring Jack Lemon and Walter Mathau
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Alfred Hitchcock, The Trouble With Harry
very funny classic
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The Rutles (aka All You Need is Cash)
basically an affectionate parody of the Beatles career (and their songs!),
with lots of cameos (Mick Jagger, Paul Simon, George Harrison etc), but
at the same time often very satirical (e.g. when Eric Idle (yes, a Python
member) mocks at how reporters behave in front of the camera, etc -
in any case, a MUST for Beatles fans
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Orson Welles, The War of the Worlds
based on H.G.Wells' novel, this radio play created a nation-wide panic
in the USA in 1938 - which only goes to show that Art Buchwald was right
about there being no difference between reality and satire...
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cont
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By the
way: do you have a satirical or humorous website, too? Then maybe you are
also interested in swapping links. In that case,
do send me an e-mail
! 