#the dickens thing is funnier the longer i think about it

[fictionadventurer]

Trollope telling us "the character found out Dickens wrote a novel about their situation" might be one of the funniest plot points I've come across in classic literature.

[grandhotelabyss]

What do you consider some of the best funny works of literature? (Not necessarily “funniest”, but best works that are funny); your canon of humour

My favorite style of humor—and humor seems more personal as well as more culture- and time-bound than seriousness—is arch and dry wit. I prefer this to a zany, slapstick, or gross-out style. Thus for humor if not for other artistic virtues I prefer Austen and Wilde to Dickens, for example, Emma and The Importance of Being Earnest for preference. Ulysses is the encyclopedia of every kind of humor as it is of every other kind of thing, and the funniest parts of Ulysses are the funniest parts of any novel ever written. Beckett, as Joyce's devoted student, and perhaps a disguised descendant of Wilde too, is hilarious in his plays' bleak repartee, though he might lean too hard on the scatology. Works before the 19th century are perhaps too distant from us to be funny, exactly. The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales, Don Quixote, Candide, Gulliver's Travels, Tom Jones all seem somehow too cruel, as Nabokov observed of DQ, to the modern sensibility. The deadpan irony in Dante's contrapasso is somehow funnier than all of those, somehow more forgiving in its cruelty. Shakespeare may be funnier to us in the tragedies, where the jokes flash like lightning in the darkness. Is anything funnier than the cosmic joke of Hamlet? Whereas I can't share the worship of Falstaff. Tristram Shandy is closer to us, but strained, over-familiar, like a beer-swilling uncle clapping you between the shoulders; I feel the same about the humor in Moby-Dick; both of those books are grab-bags of dick jokes. Henry James is funnier than he gets credit for being, especially in dialogue. To return to the 20th century, the aforementioned Nabokov is obviously funny; I like him better the subtler he is, as when Humbert describes Charlotte Haze descending the stairs and enumerates her features as they become visible to him "in order," from her feet up—as if any other order were possible! Pynchon? Too stoner for me; I prefer his elegiasm, though The Crying of Lot 49 always makes me laugh with its zaniness so adjacent to tristesse. Gore Vidal's critical essays might offer the acutest wit of the 20th century. Roth is funnier the further he gets from sex, ironically, and Operation Shylock is immensely funny at micro and macro scales, the height of die-laughing political comedy. Humor being, as I've said, personal and local, I have described DeLillo's White Noise as the funniest novel I've ever read, and I stand by that, even if the world it affectionately mocks is no longer quite ours, and even if I am affected in this instance by some latent Italian-American consciousness and its dry skepticism.

(I see from the inadvertent psychoanalysis in the above free association that there are two kinds of humor: one moves toward the body and its grosser functions as a source of laughter and the other moves away to higher levels of abstraction upon the world. I obviously prefer the latter, humor as high-minded irony, as pointed wit, a defense against sensation. The unruly body, the "lower bodily stratum" as I think Bakhtin called it in his study of Rabelais, whom I still need to read, is likelier to show up in my constellation of taste as a source of anxiety, tragedy, or, at its best, forbidden or abashed and therefore serious eros. Which self-analysis I'm sure a reading of my archly witty novels—they've been described as body horror—will bear out. Those who have scrutinized my sensibility as "very Catholic" will have something to say about this, given Catholicism's intensely abstract, paradoxical, and therefore inherently witty theology, based in its turn upon an equally intense and deadly serious affective veneration of the wounded corpus. Why else find Dante funnier than Boccaccio?)

[michaelmilligan]

Day 20 of B&B's (@drgarth and @starrynightdeancas) Holiday Advent Calendar Event! (Aka not me psycho-analyzing the archangels again...)

Watch A Classic Christmas Movie/Read A Classic Christmas Book//Mistletoe//“I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”

It was a strange time to be alive. And Raphael had been alive for eternity. (With about a nine year break, give or take.)

Sitting on a couch with their two brothers, one of them cuddled up with his boyfriend, was certainly a first. Watching the movie 'A Christmas Carol' (or rather, one rendition of the movie since Michael had mentioned that it wasn't the only version) was also new. Even Gabriel, with his years and years of experience among the humans, apparently hadn't seen it yet.

“This is one of those stories with a moral, isn't it?” he complained, and popped a candy into his mouth.

(Keep reading under the cut)

“Yup,” Adam said, one arm slung around the middle of Michael's projection and his head on his shoulder. Michael's wings were, though not even on this plane of existence, draped around the two of them tightly.

Raphael allowed themself only a short moment to stare, then turned back to watch the TV and the plot unfolding on it.

Some time later, they commented: “This is not how ghosts work.”

“No, but the author didn't know that.” One of Michael's hands was in Adam's hair. Raphael saw Gabriel looking at the two out of the corner of his eyes with a thoughtful expression. Maybe he was also more wary of this change in their brother's... romantic dispositions (that was, the fact that he even had romantic dispositions) than he'd let on so far.

“Yeah, I doubt Charles Dickens ever met a ghost. But if he did, that would make this a hundred percent funnier.” Adam grinned.

Raphael weighed their head. “The story doesn't seem very funny to me.”

“Oh no, it's definitely a cautionary tale more than a fun thing. But it's still entertaining.” Adam was smiling at them, blinking as a strand of hair fell into his eyes. With a gentle motion, Michael brushed his bangs aside.

Again, the eyes of Raphael's vessel lingered only for a moment. Their true eyes took a few seconds longer to turn away.

It wasn't that Raphael was against humans and angels being together, per se. They had been for a long time, but things had changed. Honestly, they hadn't been surprised to hear about Castiel and the older Winchester, and they didn't really care about them. And it wasn't even that they had any particular qualms about Adam, either. He seemed thoughtful and loyal enough, though of course humans were prone to changes in mood and emotion.

Still, Raphael thought that it shouldn't affect them very much to see Michael and Adam together.

And yet.

After the movie had ended, with the apparently satisfactory conclusion of one family receiving aid while many others were still presumably on the brink of starvation, Raphael was still pondering this conundrum more than any possible moral of the story. When Adam asked how they had liked the movie, Raphael's answer was short and vague. They were glad that Gabriel took the opportunity to prattle on and on, because it gave Raphael more time to think.

Michael had changed, that much was clear, but so had they all, in one way or another. For one, Raphael wasn't tired of everything anymore. Didn't simply want it all to end. There was a new order in Heaven now, one that the angels had created themselves (with a little help from the temporary God at the time), and everything was just a little brighter, just a little more peaceful now.

Though it was still new, free will wasn't a foreign concept to angels anymore. Or maybe it had never really been, all things considered. Maybe they had just fooled themselves into thinking they were strictly following God's orders.

In any case, angels choosing their own destiny wasn't all that unfamiliar anymore. Some of the ones Jack had brought back had been reluctant to work and live in Heaven, though most still at least divided their time between Heaven and Earth. Really, apart from Castiel, Michael seemed to be the one most rooted on Earth, visiting Heaven only rarely.

Was that it? Was Raphael put off by the fact that their once completely work-focused brother now barely wanted to work at all, and instead preferred to cozy it up with his human most of the time? Maybe.

Raphael watched curiously as Adam turned on the stereo. It was a little strange to see Adam walking around with Michael's wings – though of course, even while Adam was in control of the vessel, Michael was always with him, the other form he used merely an illusion. But still, seeing Adam weigh his head to the beginning music and Michael's wings rustling pleasantly in rhythm was weird.

Was it the fact that they shared the same body, then? There had been other romances between humans and angels in the past (the most notable being Serafina and the Biblical Adam), but Raphael had never before heard of love between a human being possessed and the angel possessing them.

Though why that should be more problematic than an angel possessing a human and falling in love with another human was unclear to Raphael. So perhaps that wasn't it, after all.

“Oh, I love this version,” Gabriel said, grinning, when another song came on.

“I figured.” Adam sighed. “Her singing is unnecessarily sexy.”

I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus

Underneath the mistletoe last night

She didn't see me creep Down the stairs to have a peep

“Who is this Santa Claus and why would a mother kiss them?” Raphael threw Gabriel a sharp look. “And don't tell me about some magical man living at the North Pole again. We both know that's nonsense.”

Gabriel shrugged, looking somewhat disappointed.

“Santa Claus is that dude from the Coca Cola commercials,” Adam said, which was decidedly not helpful. Gabriel grinned while Michael rolled his eyes fondly. “Okay, but seriously, just in case you didn't know: Santa Claus isn't real, so anything you hear about him is gonna be bull.”

Michael weighed his head. “Well, he is based on Saint Nikolaus, so there are true roots to the story. But Saint Nikolaus is very much dead and does not, in fact, deliver presents to all households once a year.”

“Bummer,” Gabriel said, popping another candy.

The music changed and another voice started singing.

Great Fake plastic Mistletoe

“There are many references to mistletoe in those songs,” Raphael noted, remembering what he'd heard the last time he had visited. “Does it have a significance?” If they couldn't quite grasp the concept of Santa Claus, maybe they could at least understand some other fixtures of the holiday. The gingerbread houses had been... an interesting experience, though Raphael had never quite understood why humans made food in artistic or at least intricate forms. It seemed quite a waste to put so much effort in, only for the result to be eaten.

But then, Raphael wasn't the one eating it. Maybe the form added to the experience.

Adam was smiling widely while Gabriel grinned. Oh no. Raphael suddenly wasn't so sure anymore they wanted to know the significance of the mistletoe.

“You're supposed to kiss under it,” Michael said calmly. “It's hung over doorways and the like, and when two people cross the threshold at the same time, it's tradition that they kiss.”

“I didn't see any mistletoe in this apartment,” Raphael wondered. Did they not kiss, then? Raphael hadn't seen them do it so far, but he'd assumed...

Adam snickered. “We'd never stop kissing. After all, we're always together when going anywhere.”

“Unless I use my projection,” Michael said.

“Yeah, but that's not really you, that's just a part of your grace.” Despite his words, Adam grabbed the hand of Michael's projection and pulled him closer. “Anyway, I don't need a mistletoe to kiss you.” He brought their lips together softly.

Raphael hadn't seen many people kiss in their life – had never bothered to watch humans do it – but this seemed... sweet. Intimate.

Michael's wings rustled pleasantly again.

Gabriel watched the two with an unreadable expression for a moment, then sprang up from the couch. “Well, it's been real, but I think we should get back to Heaven.”

Adam blinked at him in surprise, then glanced at Raphael. “Already?”

“Much to do. For one, we still need to get the Heavenly Choir up to date on Christmas music.”

Raphael sighed. They weren't convinced that this was a necessity, but it was true that much needed to be done in Heaven, nonetheless. They got up from their armchair.

“Are you sure? We could watch another movie...” Adam seemed genuinely saddened about their decision to leave.

“Another time,” Raphael told him, then nodded at Gabriel. After a quick goodbye, they flew to the portal, then entered Heaven.

Later, when they were sitting together in one of the conference rooms, each minding their own work, Raphael said: “It's weird. Seeing him like that.”

Gabriel barely glanced up at him. “Michael?”

“Yes. I'm not sure why. It's not like we haven't seen the changes in him before. And it's not like I've never seen him with Adam. But...” Raphael didn't know how to end that sentence.

“It's still odd. Seeing them kiss.” The way Gabriel said the last word made it clear that he was emotional about it. Though what emotion exactly... well. Raphael wasn't quite sure what they were feeling themself, either. “It's just weird. And I say that as someone who's kissed a lot of humans before, ya know. But this... this is Mikey we're talking about.” Gabriel shook his head, clearly troubled. “And I like Adam, don't get me wrong. Kid's great. Very human, for someone who's been possessed by an archangel for over a thousand years. But...”

“But seeing them together is different, yes.” Raphael leaned back in their chair. “Maybe we shouldn't have left. Even if it made us a little uncomfortable.”

“Yeah.” Gabriel scratched at a non-existent stain on the table. “It's just. It's Mikey. He's never really cared about anything other than his duty. He didn't even-”

Raphael looked up at him. There was a sour expression on Gabriel's face, but it was soon replaced by a tired one.

“He probably didn't even care that I was supposedly dead, right? Just carried on as usual.”

Raphael felt a pang of sympathy for their brother, and regret that they hadn't handled the situation differently back when Gabriel had left. “You're wrong,” they said softly. “He did care. He grieved your absence.”

Gabriel glared at them. “Couldn't even be bothered to come talk to me himself about that whole apocalypse stuff, when you guys found out I was still alive.”

“Would you have listened to him? Michael knew that you were angry at him, that you blamed him for what happened with Lucifer. And we always knew you were alive, Gabriel.”

Gabriel's head snapped up, fixing Raphael with a disbelieving stare. “No, you didn't.”

“Yes we did. Gabriel... you know back in the day, when we would sometimes hide for Michael to find us?” Raphael smiled at the memory, but Gabriel just shrugged.

“Yeah yeah, we were the first beings to play hide-and-seek. So what?”

“Michael always knew where we were. He was just pretending to search, because he knew it would amuse us.”

“What?!” Gabriel gaped at him.

“Michael has an innate ability to find the presence of other angels. He once told me that Father gave this to him after creating us, so he could keep track of where everyone was and Father didn't have to bother with it.”

“But that means... he could have found me any time!” Gabriel seemed downright hurt by this revelation. How puzzling.

“Yes, he could have, and I'm sure he used his ability to check on your whereabouts many times. But he knew you were trying to stay hidden, and so he pretended not to know where you were. So you wouldn't be pulled into everything against your will again.”

Gabriel stared at them. “You're just making that up.”

Raphael glared, offended. “No, I'm not. Listen, I know you're the youngest, but even you must remember how he cared for us, back in the days... well, before there were days. When Father just started building the universe.”

“That was long ago,” Gabriel said dismissively.

“Yes, it was and we've all changed since then. But if you really think that Michael ever stopped caring about you, then you're a fool.”

“Gee, thanks, sib.”

“I'm serious. We both know that Michael has always been capable of love. It's just... huh. It's just that now, it's mostly directed at Adam. I wonder if that's it.”

“That's what?” Gabriel asked testily.

“I wonder if that's why it's strange for us. Michael has only ever shown his love to us, his closest siblings. But now...”

“You're saying we're jealous?”

“In a way.” Raphael shrugged, but they didn't particularly like the implications either. They hesitated before saying the next part: “I think among humans, it's normal that children have problems with it if their parental figure starts seeing someone new.”

Gabriel looked at them weirdly. “Michael's not our dad.”

“No, but he did look after us more than anyone else. He basically raised us, as much as any angel can be raised.”

“Okay, but that's not what dads do. All fathers do is create universes, be bisexual, eat hot chip and lie.”

Raphael wasn't sure if their father had ever eaten hot chip, or possessed a sexuality. But they decided to let it slide for now. “Well maybe if father had taken care of us, we wouldn't be weird around Adam now.”

Gabriel pouted. Grumbled. Eventually, he sighed. “Fine. Maybe we freaked out a little over them kissing or something. And maybe it's because Mikey is kinda, sorta and in a very weird way a... a parental figure to us or whatever.” He drummed his fingernails on the table. “So what do we do about it?”

“I suggest we try not to let it influence our behaviour around Adam. Which should be easier, now that we're aware of what's going on.” Raphael looked at Gabriel thoughtfully. Since they were already at it... “I think that's why you're so infatuated with Sam Winchester, by the way. He does seem to have a similar relationship with his brother as w-”

“Oh for the love of our actual dad!” Gabriel groaned, and let his head hit the tabletop. Raphael kept talking, but Gabriel just flipped him off, then threatened to smite him. Well. Raphael supposed that one revelation was enough for the day.

[anotheruserwithnoname]

Looking back at Mark Gatiss’ episodes

If there’s one writer who gets more grief from some fans than Steven Moffat, it’s Mark Gatiss. Despite the fact he was responsible for An Adventure in Space and Time (a project he attempted to get done for the 40th anniversary) which is why the concept of David Bradley playing the First Doctor again someday is even a thing. And despite the fact he’s one of the writers who helped keep Doctor Who alive during the wilderness years, his episodes get a lot of dislike.

With Gatiss announcing that he expects his next episode, The Empress of Mars, to be his last for the series, in theory ending a professional association with the franchise dating back more than a quarter century (even longer then Moffat’s link), I thought I’d give my comments about his episodes after the break below. I could also talk about things like his Virgin New Adventures novel Nightshade (still one of my favourites), or the made-for-video spin-off series PROBE that focused on Caroline John’s Dr. Liz Shaw in the 1990s, and I could write an entire article on the excellent An Adventure in Space and Time, but I’ll just stick with the Doctor Who episodes...

The Unquiet Dead (2005): A very important episode as it reintroduced reviewers to the concept of the Doctor going back in time. Casting Simon Callow was a stroke of genius (and delightfully meta as he’s a noted Dickens expert in real life who’s played the author before). It was the first Christmas episode, and helped set the groundwork for one of Torchwood’s major elements (the Cardiff Rift). We also learned that the Time War wasn’t just something involving the Daleks and the Time Lords - it was huge. The episode was also just plain scary. One of the best S1 stories.

The Idiot’s Lantern (2006): The idea of visiting the 50s and using a metaphor of TV controlling people was sound, and every time we see the name “Magpie” (most recently in Lie of the Land) this episode is being referenced, and it’s clear the Doctor and Rose are having a blast (well, until Rose gets captured!). But I don’t care for it. Not because of Gatiss’ story or the script but because I found the Wire, with her incessant “FEEED MEEEE!” yelling, the most annoying Doctor Who villain since the Candyman. And I’m afraid that’s down to the directing and the performance.

Victory of the Daleks (2010): People forget that Gatiss only wrote twice for Davies. It was 4 years before he came back to write, and Victory of the Daleks is one of the most controversial episodes the show has ever done because of the decision to introduce the “paradigm Daleks”. But take them away and the episode is actually quite good, with Gatiss’ version of Winston Churchill being fun and likeable and I like the idea of him and the Doctor being friends. And while the concept of a subservient Dalek is taken right from Power of the Daleks, it worked well here. It was almost as if, once the paradigms were introduced, it became a different episode. I don’t know the history of the episode. Maybe it’s all on Gatiss in which case he’s guilty as charged, but my feeling is Moffat was the more responsible party. 

Night Terrors (2011): A creepy, atmospheric standalone that didn’t contribute to any real arc or anything ... basically the type of episode fans are acclaiming in Series 10. So what’s the problem? None that I can see. Is it a classic? No way. But it does the job and the dolls are just creepy.

Cold War (2013): Something I just realized as I wrote this up is I think Mark Gatiss wrote more Doctor-Clara episodes than anyone else other than Moffat. And Cold War was terrific, reintroducing the Ice Warriors and expanding upon them, yet keeping true to the characters as we last saw them back in the Pertwee era. This was also the first episode in which Clara found herself truly acting independently, setting her on the long road to becoming a Doctor in everything but name. And we also got the dynamic between Jenna and David Warner that at times, in retrospect, felt like a test drive (minus romance aspects) for Twelve-Clara.

The Crimson Horror (2013): One of my all-time favourite episodes. A great pastiche of Hammer Horror films, with an amazing retro-style flashback sequence. It has romance (this was the episode that solidified ElevenClara for me), comedy, pathos, Rachael Stirling and Diana Rigg. Plus, it was a “backdoor pilot” (to use the US term) for a Paternoster Gang TV series - one I wish we’d have gotten instead of a certain other spinoff that was chosen instead. Gatiss proved he could nail the characters of Vastra, Jenny and Strax. If he’d taken on the show it would have been great.

Robot of Sherwood (2014): Another episode I love even though it gets a lot of knocks from people. Its only sin was in coming a bit too early in the Twelfth Doctor’s first series, when we were still getting a feel for him and his dynamic with Clara. But between the costumes, the knowing humour, the spoonfight, Clara in full control freak mode when she isn’t fangirling over both the Doctor and Robin Hood, the former providing some solid early Whouffaldi moments ... this is the type of episode I was hoping we’d actually see more of in Series 10 now that a lighter and funnier Twelve is in play. Still waiting.

Sleep No More (2015): A failed, but not unworthy experiment. I like this episode because of the interaction between Twelve and Clara, first and foremost. My main complaint about Series 9 is that they were separated too much. This is actually one of handful of episodes before the finale in which we see clearly how it’s deepened into the romance Capaldi himself acknowledged in his Wil Wheaton interview. The concept of the Doctor and his companion actually being fully defeated for the first time didn’t sit well with a lot of people, but I thought it was very refreshing. This episode’s major sin was that it was an experimental standalone, and ultimately the only standalone - in a season of two-part and three-part stories. It would have worked better in Series 8 where there were more standalone episodes. As such because it’s a failed experiment it stands out all the more for it.

As for Empress of Mars (2017): the jury is out of course. I’m a bit leery because of the utter cheesiness I saw in the Next Time trailer (I’m hoping another Idiot’s Lantern scenario isn’t about to unfold), but Gatiss has surprised me before.

All told, I’m not a Gatiss hater. His episodes have been a mixed bag over the years (as have Moffat’s), but of that list I can only think of one episode I actually disliked, Idiot’s Lantern, and that was mainly because of the performance of the monster. And three of the episodes, Unquiet Dead, Crimson Horror and Robot of Sherwood, rank among my favourites. So I’m going to miss him if indeed he does not come back to work for Chris Chibnall. Hopefully, though, Big Finish will get him back to write some stories (he’s done two) or maybe he’ll have time to tackle another Doctor Who novel.