Satires/Fables

[Peace-Phoenix]

What have been the most powerful satirical novels you've read? What satires have made you sit up and think, yes, that's so true? And what Fables have, for you, really got to the heart of the human condition?

[lithium]

Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift

[Peace-Phoenix]

I've not read the book, but I loved the film. In terms of satires, 'Animal Farm' and 'Nineteen-Eighty Four' are obvious choices. By far the most powerful fable I've encountered would have to be William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies'. Its power is derived, I think, from its ability to hit right at the heart of the human condition despite its prima facie simplicity. And another one of my favourites is Jill Paton Walsh's 'Knowledge of Angels'....

[lithium]

There hasn't been a film or adaptation of Gulliver's Travels which is a patch on the book. Swift's scathing indictment of humanity really has to be read to be appreciated:D It's amazing that it is often regarded to be a suitable book for children! Its satire is jaundiced and its ideas powerful and unceasingly misanthropic and nihilistic.

Are you sure Orwell's novels are strictly satires?:confused:

[Peace-Phoenix]

There hasn't been a film or adaptation of Gulliver's Travels which is a patch on the book. Swift's scathing indictment of humanity really has to be read to be appreciated:D It's amazing that it is often regarded to be a suitable book for children! Its satire is jaundiced and its ideas powerful and unceasingly misanthropic and nihilistic.

Are you sure Orwell's novels are strictly satires?:confused:
You're the literary critic, so I'll defer to you on this one, in what way are they not strictly satires?

[phoenix_indigo]

A lot of Vonnegut books have been powerful satirical novels, at least in my opinion. What comes to mind most are: Player Piano, Galapagos, and ... I want to say Cat's Cradle (I for some reason get that one and Breakfast of Champions mixed up in my head alot).

As for Fables, that one is a bit harder. I'm trying to think of what would fall into "Fable" category. I was going to say Dante's "Inferno" as I remember when reading that (and it's been many years) that it made me start questioning ALOT about religion and the faith I had been brought up to believe. But, I'm not really sure if that falls into the "Fable" category as much as it is an allegorical story.

I also agree as well about Animal Farm being an excellent Satire that makes you change the way you think (though obviously we have a debate as to whether or not it is satirical). I read that when I was quite young as well. I think I was about 14 or so and my mom told me I ought to read it so I tried to get through it. A lot of it was a bit lost on me but it's one of those books that does stay with you. When I read it, I was told at the time to think about it in terms of say Communist Russia, etc. It wasn't until many years later that I realized how it pertained even more so to Capitalist "democracies".

[lithium]

You're the literary critic, so I'll defer to you on this one, in what way are they not strictly satires?Well let's not get too bogged down in unimportant questions; Animal Farm would I suppose be a satirical fable or allegory about the Russian Revolution though focused more on its allegorical ends than specifically satirising or ridiculing Marxist-Leninism. But I don't think Nineteen Eighty-Four is satirising anything particularly, it's more a dystopian political allegory, though I'm sure you could make a case that some elements of it represent an ironic lampooning of wartime and immediately post-war society.

Yes, Vonnegut is a great satirical novelist, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller is another one:)

[Peace-Phoenix]

Well let's not get too bogged down in unimportant questions; Animal Farm would I suppose be a satirical fable or allegory about the Russian Revolution though focused more on its allegorical ends than specifically satirising or ridiculing Marxist-Leninism. But I don't think Nineteen Eighty-Four is satirising anything particularly, it's more a dystopian political allegory, though I'm sure you could make a case that some elements of it represent an ironic lampooning of wartime and immediately post-war society.

Yes, Vonnegut is a great satirical novelist, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller is another one:)
I think that's probably fair, though by directly targeting Stalinism, and through the use of ironic ministires, Truth, Peace, Justice (No wait, that's John Reid's one) is Nineteen Eighty-Four not satirising the revolution betrayed?

[phoenix_indigo]

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller is another one:)i did read that once, but i can't remember a thing about it.

[mamaKCita]

i LOVED knowledge of angels and A Debt To Pleasure.