FYWS 151-07, Reflections on Satire, Fall 2014

Abstract

Christopher Hitchens once wrote that “the smug satire of liberal humorists debases our comedy—and our national conversation.” At the same time, however, popular opinion has named Jon Stewart one of America’s most trusted newscasters. This class will focus on the features and functions of satire in the past and present as we use the linked practices of reading, writing, and discussion to develop your critical thinking and compositional skills. The syllabus will pair works by Horace, Juvenal, Jonathan Swift, and Mark Twain with pieces by modern practitioners like Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and the writers of Saturday Night Live. What was changed? What hasn’t? What’s really at stake? Swift wrote that “satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own.” We will look at satire itself and generate our own conversations about its place and purpose in cultural discourse.