“. . . there is an unfortunate lag between recent criticism on satire and its application by toilers in the great tower. Any scholar who presumed to speak on tragedy would know his subject from Aristotle to Steiner, but many writers on satire—too many—continue to remain unaware of the contributions to criticism of Kernan, Frye, and Feinberg to name only a few of the most recent and most important critics.” —Satire Newsletter, Spring, 1965
For more than two thousand years we have known satirists as those wits who expose hypocrisy and deftly stick shafts into our ballooned egos. Collectively we resent this perspicacity—satirists are never much liked. We give them their due, however, by admiring their ability to make us laugh while they make us squirm.
Introduction to Satire explains fully how the satirist manages to express his criticism in forms that society is willing to accept—in spite of the fact that no one likes to be criticized.
ISBN 978-0-9790909-5-0 $24.95
