Critical Insights: Satire Reviews
“Evans (English, Auburn Univ.) contributes to Salem’s “Critical Insights” series with this collection of accessible essays. The initial essay, though perhaps overstating the neglect of women satirists in recent decades, addresses gender issues and provides a useful understanding of satire as an angry but generative genre. The collection comprises two sections. The first explores critical contexts for understanding satire: Evans’s overview of other critical works is particularly useful for students new to the genre. The second section presents critical readings of specific texts selected for relevance to contemporary students. These readings examine similarities between satirists and internet trolls, media adaptations of classic satires, and racial issues in a collection of satiric newspaper columns. The final essay on Larkin’s satiric poetry reinforces a satiric mandate not to take anything too seriously. Scholarly apparatus includes a list of satires ideal for students. The choices for analysis are less central than one might expect in an introductory work, so the volume is less suitable as a stand-alone introduction than as a complementary source in a wider introduction to satire. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates.” - CHOICE