Comparative Literature | Introduction to Satire
C318 | 26843 | Professor Akin Adesokan
Carries A&H credit
Which is the better idea: to grill the sparerib of a child for lunch
or let him run in the streets panning wildly for alms? Is a tropical
beach a less likely place than a solemn church to experience divine
power? In this course we will read several works of satire from
different parts of the world and across the ages, focusing on the
forms, literary or visual techniques, and the social and political
targets of satire. While working from the premise that the victim of
a satirical work is assumed to be removed from the reader, we will
also look at cases where the dividing lines are not so clear.
Authors and sources may include Achebe, Aristophanes, Bullins,
Horace, Jones, Juvenal, Molière, O’Brien, Pope, Soyinka, Swift, The
Onion, Twain, Voltaire, Waugh, Ward, and the Yes Men.