#satirical literature

[beloved-of-john]

"Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts"

The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis

[mailmiocuoredipietratremaancora]

Il populismo, ignaro della sua stessa ignoranza, tra farfugliamenti di sangue e suolo, assurdi principì nativistici e drammatica indifferenza al problema dei cambiamenti climatici, potrebbe in futuro evocare altri mostri, alcuni dei quali assai più violenti e nefasti perfino della Brexit. Ma in ciascuna declinazione del mostro, a prosperare sarà sempre lo spirito dello scarafaggio. Tanto vale che impariamo a conoscerla bene, questa creatura, se vogliamo sconfiggerla. E io confido che ci riusciremo. Frattanto, se la ragione non apre gli occhi e non si decide a riprendere il sopravvento, potremmo doverci affidare al conforto della risata.

[younes-ben-amara]

ما الأدب الساخر؟ وما الكتب التي اقترحها فيه؟ ولم لا يوجد عدد أكثر من الكُتّاب الساخرين؟

ما الأدب الساخر؟ وما الكتب التي اقترحها فيه؟ ولم لا يوجد عدد أكثر من الكُتّاب الساخرين؟

مساء السخرية، اقترحت عليّ الأستاذة نادية ميرة هذا الموضوع فشَكَر الله لها، نادية مشتركة في رديف فاشترك أنت أيضًا في رديف 👇 اجعل من سخروا من أفكارك يبكون تحسّرًا… اشترك في رديف! صباح الخير أستاذ ✅️كيف تنظر إلى الأسلوب الهزلي او ما يسمى بالأدب السّاخر ؟؟ ✅️ هل قرأت قبلا مؤلفات فيه؟✅️ مللنا من الدراما والعنف وماشابه… هل تقترح لنا مجموعة من الكتاب في هذا النمط بعيدا عن الجاحظ و خالد توفيق؟؟ ✅️ لم…

[madame-helen]

[francisfuckingabernathy]

Every time anyone says "Oh, god, how you can get into The Secret History? The characters are so awful." I can barely contain the exasperated rage pummeling my body because they literally hit the nail on the head. THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT OF THE BOOK.

[tygerland]

Animal Farm (1954)

[lizzyaka]

Btw quoting the fatal flaw line (im not typing the whole thing out), "i am nothing in my soul if not obsessive", anything from that one class (beauty is terror yadda yadda) or any corny ass line like those completely invalidates anything you have to say about the book in my eyes cause im just gonna assume u didnt understand shit and are just trying to be like the characters. The same can be said about people who say the book or certain parts were sad or profound like if you stop romantizing it youll realize how purposely shallow and absurd it actually is. Ive seen many people say its a modern greek tragedy which is sooo funny bc the book is entirely satirical😭

Tsh fandom is exactly like the patrick bateman fanboys but dark academia

[latin-literature-tourney]

Latin Literature Tournament - Round 1

Propaganda under the cut!

Pliny Propaganda:

His description of Vesuvius is so fucking cool and important, you guys. It's so cool that "Plinian eruptions" are a thing in volcanology

He writes some neat descriptions of gardens and private horticulture, so he's an important source on Roman aesthetics of domestic design

His letters really are bangers. I love his friendship with Tacitus, and the ghost stories are so fucking fun

Juvenal Propaganda:

I love reading and fighting Juvenal. He is such an asshole and so full of shit (and his poems really are a blast)

That said the man sure can turn a phrase. Bread and circuses, anyone?

Is that a farrago in your libellus or are you just happy to see me

[burningvelvet]

I read A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift and I don't know what I originally thought it was going to be about but whatever it was IT WAS NOT THAT

[flowersforfrancis]

Becoming a character in a dark academia novel - A beginners guide:

Show off your love for literature, fine art or mythology. Make sure everyone knows you’ve read Plato. And Shakespeare. And Homer. Basically, Quote an old white dude who’s probably dead at least once a day.

Make sure to be seen running through your school. Develop an aesthetic run. Maybe do this with a group of equally experienced friends.

Please don’t own anything plastic or overly bright. (this is definitely for the environment). 

Have a set of fucked up morals. But make sure to prepare yourself with some smart sounding excuse that essentially intimidates people and deters them from asking questions.

Murder someone or be murdered. Either one. (I’d say it’s your choice, but if you’re being murdered, well, it’s probably not).

Develop an addiction- I’d recommend something like red wine, or cigarettes. Or both. (But you didn’t hear it from me).

Embrace the angst, the insanity, the insomnia and the general dislike for others.

Don’t worry about being friendly; coldness is encouraged.

Learn several old languages that most people don’t actually speak. If this truly isn’t possible: resort to French.  

Please, for the love of [insert old white dude here], be dramatic.

If you aren’t rich then either embrace it as an aesthetic. Or just lie.

Either get a small, cluttered apartment, or a giant fucking mansion.

Be smart.

Listen to classical music.

In terms of love you have a few choices: fall In love with someone but then kill them. Be queer and deny it. Be queer and fall for heterosexuals (or at least people who think they are). - basically please never get a happy ending with someone you actually love.

Exist only during winter and autumn. I suppose you may spend some time in spring. But only make brief appearances in summer. If you’re seen during summer, make sure you’re at a lake, or on a lawn, or in a sunlit library, maybe a sailboat?

Read.

Get some collared shirts.

If you get glasses they better be obscure.

Make sure people see you drunk. Maybe knock on a classmates door whilst drunk.

If you aren’t six feet under, remember to be mature and regretful years after your time at your elitist school.

Oh yeah, receive an elite education. (Or hang out in public libraries a lot?? Idk).

Avoid healthy relationships. Or maybe form an inseparable bond with someone. Honestly this can still be unhealthy. Probably will be.

Never have a good relationship with your family. They must be either dead, uninterested in you, far away, or just plain shitty.

[gwleddgymreig]

Hozier's "Eat Your Young" 🤝Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal"

Irishmen satirically proposing the cannibalism of children as an alternative to them (and us) living in a modern hell

[360degreesasthecrowflies]

I’m afraid I’ve come more and more around to the opinion that Rowling is the kind of author who simply doesn’t think. So to look for an analytical interpretation of anything in the series is probably an exercise in frustration. She paints what is intended as impressive word pictures — essentially vignettes — mainly on the basis of how they are supposed to push your buttons and make you feel, without ever considering how they are supposed to fit together. This sometimes produces a considerable emotional impact, if you are at all sensitive to that kind of jerking around, but it doesn’t necessarily make sense. And sometimes they just plain backfire. Quite a few of these issues are still slowly coming into focus. And one of the sharpest is the awareness that the world Rowling assembled is simply a lot bigger than the narrow-focused, smug, anglo-centric view of it she gave us. Because when you come right down to it, it becomes clear that she never really intended to build a solid secondary world to put her story in. She simply didn’t do the groundwork. Instead, she has ended up with this weird amalgamation that she threw together — which is highly detailed in some areas, and only vaguely sketched in elsewhere with several great gaping holes where you least expect them, to fall right out of the story through. But, back when she first assembled this pretend world, she used the best possible materials available. She mined folklore, and classic (written) tales that have been pretty fully absorbed by the culture, as well as ancient myth, and symbolism that has been around for centuries, she mimicked the authentically traditional “tropes” of how stories are put together and how they work, and she did it with a free hand. But I’m no longer convinced that she did it all consciously. I think she slung a lot of them together because they just “felt” right together. Sure, sometimes she tweaked them before she deployed them, or renamed them, or trivialized the hell out of them, but she hardly ever invented anything new. Most of her elements already existed. The only thing in the Potterverse that is really original are some of her combinations. And, of course, the Dementors. Consequently, as I say, she ended up with something that is a lot bigger than she is. And which upon first encounter comes across as a lot more erudite than she probably really is too, because all of the elements she used to build it came already equipped with their own baggage, and a whole pre-existing collection of associations which all originally led someplace. And most of them are so widely known and/or so universal that even with a 2nd or 3rd-rate education, you are able to recognize them, and are at least somewhat aware of what those particular elements usually mean. And the components are all thoroughly documented, so you can readily find out what the original source meant if you are at all curious. But that doesn’t mean that she ever intended to use any of that material. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It is certainly bigger than the shallow, petty, and mean-spirited viewpoint that she keeps pushing into the foreground and expecting us to use as a lens.

via Red Hen's restrospective review of Deathly Hallows, 2008

[howifeltabouthim]

You just have no idea how rich and wonderful parenthood can be. In fact, you haven't really lived until you've wrestled a shrieking four-year-old to the ground at Target.

Curtis Sittenfeld, from Eligible

[madame-helen]

[thepersonalwords]

Chances are that there are white people who brag about being the first to move out of a suburb that has been intruded by blacks.

Mokokoma Mokhonoana