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I've been reading a wonderful new collection, The Oxford Book of Parodies. It made me realize that the best parodists really understand their subject, and many of them parody out of love, not disgust. It's high criticism, when done well.
The collection starts with parodies of medieval and Anglo-Saxon works and romps from there to the present. There are so many wonderful bits that I can only encourage you to go read the book. You can open it anywhere and start reading, since the items are quite short. So it's great for bus rides and bathrooms. Among all the prose items, my favorite (although it's really hard to choose), is the Hemingway parody by E.B. White entitled "Across the street and into the grill."
"I love you," he said, "and we are going to lunch together for the first and only time, and I love you very much." [And when the girl makes a phone call] "She dialed true and well, using her finger."
And the poetic parodies are wonderful. Here's one of Walt Whitman, if he were writing "Jack and Jill went up the hill."
I celebrate the personality of Jack!
I love his dirty hands, his tangled hair, his locomotion blundering.
Each wart upon his hands I sing,
Paeans I chant to his hulking shoulder blades.
Also Jill!
The collection starts with parodies of medieval and Anglo-Saxon works and romps from there to the present. There are so many wonderful bits that I can only encourage you to go read the book. You can open it anywhere and start reading, since the items are quite short. So it's great for bus rides and bathrooms. Among all the prose items, my favorite (although it's really hard to choose), is the Hemingway parody by E.B. White entitled "Across the street and into the grill."
"I love you," he said, "and we are going to lunch together for the first and only time, and I love you very much." [And when the girl makes a phone call] "She dialed true and well, using her finger."
And the poetic parodies are wonderful. Here's one of Walt Whitman, if he were writing "Jack and Jill went up the hill."
I celebrate the personality of Jack!
I love his dirty hands, his tangled hair, his locomotion blundering.
Each wart upon his hands I sing,
Paeans I chant to his hulking shoulder blades.
Also Jill!