Satire

Fight Club (1996) is the debut novel of American author Chuck Palahniuk. Three years later, American filmmaker David Fincher directed the film adaptation starring Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden, Edward Norton as the Narrator, and Helena Bonham Carter as Marla Singer. This study guide uses the 2018 paperback edition published by W. W. Norton & Co.Fight Club is a contemporary work of literary fiction that contends with masculinity, materialism, consumer culture, and modern disillusionment. Inspired... Read Fight Club Summary

IntroductionIn his introduction to Flatland: a Romance of Many Dimensions (1884), British mathematician Banesh Hoffmann describes the novel as “a stirring adventure in pure mathematics” and emphasizes the fundamentally fantastical nature of the story (iii). He also says that author Edwin A. Abbott intended the novel to be instructional. Both the surreal nature of Flatland and its didactic elements are plain, but there is disagreement among scholars and readers on the question of exactly what... Read Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions Summary

God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine is a 1965 novel by American author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1922-2007). The novel is a postmodern satire on wealth, capitalism, and the dark side of the American Dream. Vonnegut’s fifth novel is considered a precursor to Slaughterhouse Five (1969) since it introduces many of the themes that appear in that much-lauded novel. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater contains elements of science fiction, which emerge in a... Read God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater Summary

Gravity’s Rainbow is a 1973 historical satire by American novelist Thomas Pynchon, who is known for complex narratives that are often dense, fragmented, and episodic. The story is set during the last days of World War II as characters search for a mysterious rocket developed by the German military. The novel has been hailed as one of the most important English language works of the 20th century.Pynchon, disinclined to engage with the press or public... Read Gravity's Rainbow Summary

Gulliver’s Travels is a 1726 novel written by Jonathan Swift. It is both an early English novel and a seminal satirical text in British Literature, remaining Swift’s best-known work and spawning many adaptations in both print and film. The targets of Swift’s satire range from political structures in early 18th-century England to the national rivalry between England and France during the same period. Swift also lampoons science and educational trends that lean towards more speculative... Read Gulliver's Travels Summary

Hard Times is an 1854 novel by Charles Dickens. The 10th book of Dickens’s career, Hard Times is notably shorter than his other works and is one of the few that isn’t set in London. Instead, Hard Times provides a satirical examination of the fictitious industrial city of Coketown, England. The novel has been adapted numerous times for radio, television, theater, and film.This guide is written using an eBook edition of the 2003 Penguin Classics... Read Hard Times Summary

Kurt Vonnegut’s dystopian science fiction story “Harrison Bergeron” was first published in 1961 in The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy. It has since been adapted for film and television in PBS’s Between Timid and Timbuktu series, Showtime’s Harrison Bergeron, a 2008 short film also titled Harrison Bergeron, and a 2009 short film titled 2081. The story was republished in Vonnegut’s collection Welcome to the Monkey House in 1968. This guide references the e-book version... Read Harrison Bergeron Summary

Herland (1915) is the second installment of The Herland Trilogy by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, but it is typically read as a standalone novel. Gilman was an American humanist, feminist activist, and author of both fiction and nonfiction. Her most famous work is “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892), a short story that depicts the late 1800s “rest cure”: a popular treatment for women’s mental health that Gilman underwent herself. Herland follows three men—Van, Jeff, and Terry—who find... Read Herland Summary

Mark Danielewski’s 2000 debut novel, House of Leaves, is an experimental text that contains multiple layers of narration. It is a type of frame story: the top frame, or layer, follows the life of Johnny Truant after he finds Zampanò’s manuscript The Navidson Record, with this manuscript acting as House of Leaves’ second layer. Zampanò’s manuscript analyzes the third layer of House of Leaves: a documentary of the same name filmed by Will Navidson. The... Read House Of Leaves Summary

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Infinite Jest is a fiction novel by David Foster Wallace. First published in 1996, the novel has an unconventional narrative structure with hundreds of extensive footnotes. Exploring themes of addiction, alienation, and the plight of modern existence, Infinite Jest is famous for its complexity and humor. The novel has been praised by critics and heralded as one of the most important literary works of the 20th century. This guide was written using the 2014 Abacus... Read Infinite Jest Summary

Invisible Monsters is the third novel by bestselling novelist Chuck Palahniuk. Published in 1999, the novel was intended to be Palahniuk’s first published novel but was rejected for its disturbing content. Invisible Monsters is a contemporary work in the first person with a non-linear narration. The main characters include a former model and transgender woman focused on the search for identity in a society where beauty defines a person’s self-worth.Content Warning: Please be advised that... Read Invisible Monsters Summary

It Can’t Happen Here (1935) is a dystopian political novel by Sinclair Lewis. The narrative details the rise, consolidation, and partial collapse of an American fascist dictatorship and is told through the perpesective of 60-year-old protagonist Doremus Jessup, owner-editor of a small Vermont newspaper and self-described middle-class liberal intellectual. Initially a cynical and detached political observer, Jessup becomes an increasingly active member of the resistance.Considering themes like American Totalitarianism and The Conditions Necessary for Liberal... Read It Can't Happen Here Summary

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Keep the Aspidistra Flying was first published in 1936. Written by George Orwell (whose real name was Eric Arthur Blair), it is not as well-known as other works like 1984 and Animal Farm, nor was it well received when it was released. Like much of Orwell’s other fiction, though, it is a social criticism novel; it examines and critiques social, political, and economic issues contemporary to the time of its writing. In 1997, Robert Bierman... Read Keep the Aspidistra Flying Summary

Landscape with Invisible Hand is a satirical dystopian science fiction novel by M. T. Anderson, written for a young adult audience. A diverse author, Anderson writes both fiction and nonfiction for people of all ages. In 2023, Landscape with Invisible Hand was adapted for film, reflecting the novel’s popularity and relevance. The book depicts a future world in which an alien species, the vuvv, have sold their technology to humans, causing the collapse of the... Read Landscape with Invisible Hand Summary

Charles Dickens’s novel Little Dorrit was originally published in serialized form between 1855 and 1857. In this novel, the author satirizes government and society at large, with a specific focus on debtors’ prisons that incarcerated those in debt. The prison in Little Dorrit is the Marshalsea, where at one time, Charles Dickens’s father was imprisoned for debt. Little Dorrit explores common Dickensian themes such as economic class, duty, and societal issues.Other works by this author... Read Little Dorrit Summary

Lolita, a novel by Russian-American author Vladimir Nabokov, was published in 1955 in Paris. American publishing companies refused to publish the novel due to its scandalous plot, but the book was considered a classic almost instantly. In 1967, the novel was finally published in America and, since then, Lolita has appeared on several lists of the greatest English-language and American novels of all time. The novel blends genres, offering readers elements of romance, erotica, and... Read Lolita Summary

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During his lifetime, John Dryden (1631-1700) was an esteemed poet, literary critic, and playwright. His influence was so large that the literary period after the Restoration of Charles II is sometimes called the “Age of Dryden.” Dryden’s literary abilities were recognized by the Stuart Monarchy in 1668 when he was made England’s first Poet Laureate. In addition to his role as Poet Laureate, Dryden is best remembered for his refinement of English verse, his development of... Read Mac Flecknoe Summary