Humor
Definition, from m-w.com:
Main Entry: hu·mor
Pronunciation: ‘hyü-m&r, ‘yü-
Function: noun3 a : that quality which appeals to a sense of the ludicrous or absurdly incongruous b : the mental faculty of discovering, expressing, or appreciating the ludicrous or absurdly incongruous c : something that is or is designed to be comical or amusing
synonym see WIT
The above is provided for eejit writers who don’t get obvious jokes when Jane Austen wrote them. The New York Times has a review of The Book of Lost Books by Stuart Kelly, about books that were lost in manuscript or never written. The article includes the following:
Jane Austen apparently laid the groundwork for a history entitled “The Magnificent Adventures and Intriguing Romances of the House of Saxe Cobourg,” but died instead.
It is hard to tell if the writer of the book or the writer of the article is confused; it is possible that both are; but surely one of them realized that Jane was JOKING when she wrote her “Plan of a Novel“? She was MOCKING all the eejits who tried to tell her what she SHOULD write, or the silly books being written by other authors. How can people not get that? Even if they read it out of context? Unless, of course, they, like the heroine of the Work, was “a faultless Character…perfectly good, with much tenderness and sentiment, and not the least Wit.”
April 30th, 2006 at 5:16 pm
What, you ask, would Basil Fawlty say ? “TYPICAL!”
April 30th, 2006 at 7:54 pm
Interesting wording that the author used there. “Jane Austen apparently laid the groundwork … but died instead.” As if she died rather than write the beastly little work, which I find probable.
May 1st, 2006 at 2:42 am
Indeed, my first reaction on reading that sentence was, “Instead of what”?
May 1st, 2006 at 11:59 am
This is a wonderfully hilarious bit of news! Whatever happened to verifying and research during the many phases of writing a book?