This week, The Blue Bookcase’s Literary Blog Hop asks us all if literature can be funny.
Is the Pope Catholic?
I know I’m cheating a bit here, but I’m just going to reference back to a previous post which was written a bit ahead of its time. In a post about Don Quixote which I wrote last year, I talked about how Cervante’s masterpiece is, at its essence, a medieval Dumb and Dumber replete with cartoon violence, clueless heroes, and poo jokes.
Sure sure, Don Quixote is the archetype for all subsequent novels and is one of the most examined and dissected pieces of literature in the Western canon. Don’t let all that academic mumbo-jumbo put you off. If you enjoyed the hilarious misadventures of Lloyd and Harry, you’ll find Don Quixote and Sancho Panza’s travels equally as uproarious.
What You Read 
The length of Don Quixote intimidates me but I feel like I need to get over it and just read the book
The book is sitting on our bookshelf, waiting to be read. One of these days I’ll get around to it. But I’m not sure that I want to read that many pages of Dumb and Dumber. Poo jokes get a bit old after awhile.
Anybody who reviews Don Quixote and quotes Jimmy Buffet in his blog description is somebody I want to follow! Nicely done. Didn’t see a follow button (did I miss it?) but I signed up to get email notifications of future posts.
@Alley – it is a very intimidating book. It was on my shelf for years before I actually got around to reading it. But, it’s well worth it. It takes a bit of getting into, but it’s good.
@Susan – It’s not all Dumb and Dumber. There’s lots of other, more intellectual bits sprinkled throughout. Hey, it’s considered the ultimate novel for more than just its potty humor!
@Emily – Thanks for stopping by! I love that Jimmy Buffett quote, had to use it in starting this blog. WordPress doesn’t allow the google follow tool that everyone on blogger uses – email subscription is all they have here. Thanks for signing up and I’m glad you’ll be reading!
I’ve had a spell of funny lit lately. Thomas Bernhard’s Prose is wickedly funny, as is Klausen by Andreas Meier. Both German, hmmm?
Loved you review when it first came out & still love the connections made to Dumb & Dumber. so obviously I’m in agreement with you concerning humour & works of supposed po-faced sincerity.
I love when I stumble across humor in classics. Although I wouldn’t characterize them as overall funny, Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame and Sir Walter Scott’s The Talisman were two older works that surprised me last year with their snarky bits. I’m sure the fact that I didn’t expect the humor made it that much more funny.
Great example. A lot of people picked this book for this blog hop, but it intimidates me. I really have to pick it up this year. 🙂
@amy – haven’t read either of those authors, I’ll have to take a look!
@parrish – I know it was tragic, but Quixote was outright uproarious. I suppose that quite a few books walk that line between farce and tragedy.
@christy – I haven’t read either of those. I have picked up the Hunchback once or twice, but for some reason never got around to reading it.
@darlyn – you should pick up Don Quixote. I know it’s intimidating, believe me. But it’s well worth the effort. Thanks for coming by!