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| I WANT this chandelier! |
This blog post was inspired by my last assignment in my literature class.
We're reading Medieval literature right now and finally the instructor gave us a break from the tragic and sometimes just plain boring and assigned us some fabilaux, which are short humor pieces. Two of which were delightfully bawdy.
Here's an example from "A WILD DREAM:" "...the woman launched into her tale, and like it or not, lay all of the details bare of her dream at the penis fair, how some were good and some were bad, and she bought the largest they had, by far more impressive than any, for fifty shillings and a penny."
Seriously, this story was about a woman who fell asleep angry after her husband got too drunk to put out and had a dream about going to a fair selling only dildos. Reading assignments like this are why I love college.
The homework was to answer the question as to if stuff like this is still humorous and why.
I thought the story was self explanatory. But I still formulated an answer like a good student.:
"As a fan of bawdy comedy, I absolutely adored the phallic humor in the last two tales: 'A Wild Dream,' and 'The Ring That Controlled Erections.'
I believe that there are indeed enduring elements of human behavior that will always be humorous and those stories are totally still funny today because it is a permanent aspect of human nature to laugh at ourselves. And one of the main ways we laugh at ourselves is through sexual humor.
Face it, sex, and the parts involved, is quite strange and silly when you really think of it. And the two fabliaux, as well as "LYSISTRATA", prove that dick jokes will remain funny for the duration of human existence."
Then we were supposed to ask a follow up question to our classmates as well as answer it. I decided this question should be posed to you all as well:
"Dreams are explored a lot in classic literature, but not so much in modern literature because many publishers see it as a cliche. Do you see this as a bad thing?
"I do.
"Dreams are one of the greatest mysteries and equalizers of humanity. We all have them and none of us understand how or why. We can all empathize with when reading about nightmares and ludicrous adventures in the sleeping mind. I found "A Wild Dream" to be especially funny because I once had a similar dream. (Though I didn't hit my husband in my sleep.) I also once had a dream where I was helping my cats build nests so they could lay their eggs. Crazy dreams are an integral part of human nature and should remain a part of literature."
So, what do you think about dreams in modern fiction? Are they cliche or should they make a comeback?
...and if you're a fan of bawdy literature, I highly recommend LYSISTRATA. It is by far my favorite thing I've read in this class. Monty Python humor and dick jokes abound!
