Satire

What is satire

  • politics in action - trying to provoke a reaction.

  • history now - trying to change the world around us through previous examples.

  • literature with teeth - wants to change your mind, aggressive form of writing.

“When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich.” - Jean-Jaques Rousseau

  • power systems are built on the backs of the majority.

  • world is run by a small group with power

  • all our money goes into the pockets of the few

  • revolution and rebellion

  • change balance of power and invent socialism

  • where satire loses its power/comes alife

Satire is an aggressive form of writing. Satirists work for themselves, should not be subjected to scrutiny.

We as literary critics are the ones who police the satirists, proving they’re satirising or shut them down.

Elitism of satire as not everyone will understand, whilst the satirist should be writing to the lowest denominator of the world that are in most need of change

Satire is highly challenging, even grotesque and discomforting, but it can be the most thought-provoking of literary modes.

Questions for Consideration

But what is satire for? Does it serve a moral purpose (exposing a wrong) or merely shock prudish readers?

How do we read satire on the page? By extension, how we detect sarcasm or irony in a text, when we have to infer tone of voice, silently, in our minds?

Horatian

Gentle mockery of social vices using dry humour or clever mimicry. A Horatian satirist’s goal is to heal the situation with smiles, rather than by anger. He or she offers a gentle reminder to take life less seriously.

Juvenalian

Harsh, exaggerated ridicule; mocks those who take offence or accept the status quo. Polarized political satire is often Juvenalian as it aims to provoke political and societal change, not just highlight it.

A Modest Proposal (1729)

Persistent and unnerving universalism about the story. Satire against power dynamics, about cruelty of the elites.

  • the proposal: the impoverished Irish could ease their economic troubles by selling their children as food for rich gentlemen and ladies

  • the satire mocks heartless attitudes towards the poor and can-do attitudes

  • the narrator explores cannibalism and infanticide

  • people are treated as commodities

  • Swift exposes hypocrisies of “civilised” society.

Juvenalian Satire

Satire, superficially on the surface, appears to be going for the most vulnerable in society. A Modest Proposal seems to be attacking Irish women who have children out of wedlock, they seem to be the target of the satire but are not.

Juvenalian satire attacks the weakest in society in order to make a different point.

The satire of swift’s A Modest Proposal works on three levels:

  • it critiques the British Government’s treatment of Ireland (over which it rules);

  • it parodies the earnest yet futile projects offered by others;

  • it cruelly mocks the passivity of the feckless Irish poor.

  • the speaker wavers between harsh ridicule (“breeders”, “savages”) and false modesty (A Modest Proposal…)

  • where do his sympathies lie, if anywhere? Whig or Tory?

  • is he supportive or critical of Ireland?… Perhaps both?

The Narrator = “The Proposer”

A Critical Reintroduction (1994)

Why satire matters and what it achieves.

  • “Satirists would seem to prefer indirection to frontal attack “.

    • Satire mimics what it addresses

  • “Under what conditions does great satire arise?”

Jonathan Swift was a conservative, he didn’t wasn’t to change the world, he wanted to go back to the past.

Literary Techniques and Strategies:

  • delayed reveal of gruesome details and grisly information

  • lots of statistics and facts

  • glosses quickly over good ideas

  • claims modesty and no bias

  • dead-pan delivery of lines

  • alludes to authority figures

  • speaks directly to the reader (coercion)