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Comic Literature
A comic novel is a novel-length work of humorous fiction. Many well-known authors have written comic novels, including P. G. Wodehouse, Henry Fielding, Mark Twain, and John Kennedy Toole. Comic novels are often defined by the author's literary choice to make the thrust of the work—in its narration or plot—funny or satirical in orientation, regardless of the putative seriousness of the topics addressed. Definition Novels, books, plays, and many works of fiction or art can certainly contain and include passages or themes that are comic, humorous or satirical, but the defining characteristic of this genre is that comedy is the framework and baseline of the story, rather than an occasional or recurring motif. It is the through-line and organizing genre for the novel's tone, orientation and sensibility. A reader is not expected to 'find' or 'discover' a humorous moment within the reality of the text, rather, humor is the ongoing mood, like a comedy movie, rather than a movie tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Novel
A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ''novellus'', diminutive of ''novus'', meaning 'new'. According to Margaret Doody, the novel has "a continuous and comprehensive history of about two thousand years", with its origins in the Ancient Greek and Roman novel, Medieval Chivalric romance, and the tradition of the Italian Renaissance novella.Margaret Anne Doody''The True Story of the Novel'' New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996, rept. 1997, p. 1. Retrieved 25 April 2014. The ancient romance form was revived by Romanticism, in the historical romances of Walter Scott and the Gothic novel. Some novelists, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Ann Radcliffe, and John Cowper Powys, preferred the term ''romance''. Such romances should not be con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rob Grant
Robert Grant is an English comedy writer, television producer and co-creator of the ''Red Dwarf'' comedy franchise. Since ''Red Dwarf'', Grant has written two television series, ''The Strangerers'' and ''Dark Ages (TV series), Dark Ages'', and four solo novels, his most recent being ''Fat (novel), Fat''. During his career Grant has been involved in two distinct writing partnerships: the first with Doug Naylor, and the second and most recent with Andrew Marshall (screenwriter), Andrew Marshall. Early life Grant was born in Salford, Greater Manchester, Salford and studied Psychology at Liverpool University for two years. Career In the mid-1980s, Grant collaborated with co-writer Doug Naylor on radio programmes such as ''Son Of Cliché'', ''Wrinkles'' for Radio 4 and television programmes such as ''Spitting Image'', ''The 10 Percenters'', and various projects for Jasper Carrott. The 'Grant Naylor' collaboration, as it had become known, created the cult science-fiction comedy ser ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of the twentieth century. Joyce's novel ''Ulysses (novel), Ulysses'' (1922) is a landmark in which the episodes of Homer's ''Odyssey'' are paralleled in a variety of literary styles, particularly stream of consciousness. Other well-known works are the short-story collection ''Dubliners'' (1914) and the novels ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'' (1916) and ''Finnegans Wake'' (1939). His other writings include three books of poetry, a play, letters, and occasional journalism. Born in Dublin into a middle-class family, Joyce attended the Jesuit Clongowes Wood College in County Kildare, then, briefly, the Congregation of Christian Brothers, Christian Brothers–run O'Connell School. Despite the chaotic family li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ben Elton
Benjamin Charles Elton is a British comedian, actor, author, playwright, lyricist and director. One of the major figures in the alternative comedy movement of the 1980s, his early stand-up style was Left-wing politics, left-wing political satire. He co-wrote the sitcoms ''The Young Ones (TV series), The Young Ones'', ''Blackadder'' and ''Mr. Bean'', and was the sole writer for other sitcoms such as ''Filthy Rich & Catflap'', ''The Thin Blue Line (British TV series), The Thin Blue Line'' and ''Upstart Crow''. He has published many novels in dystopian, comedy, and Crime Fiction, crime genres, as well as written the musicals ''The Beautiful Game (musical), The Beautiful Game'' (2000), ''We Will Rock You (musical), We Will Rock You'' (2002), ''Tonight's the Night (2003 musical), Tonight's the Night'' (2003), and ''Love Never Dies (musical), Love Never Dies'' (2010). Early life and education Benjamin Charles Elton was born at University College Hospital in Fitzrovia, London, the son o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Connolly (author)
Joseph Connolly (born 23 March 1950) is an English journalist, novelist, and non-fiction writer. Biography For many years he owned The Flask Bookshop in Hampstead, London. Having started writing fiction rather late in life, he is best known today for comic novels, especially in France, where they have been translated by Alain Defossé. He also contributes to ''The Times'' and other publications. His son is Charles Connolly, a musician. The two live in Hampstead. Work Novels *'' Poor Souls'' (1995) *''This Is It'' (1996) *''Stuff'' (1997) *''Summer Things'' (1998) (filmed in France in 2002 by Michel Blanc as '' Embrassez qui vous voudrez'' starring Charlotte Rampling, Jacques Dutronc and Carole Bouquet) *''Winter Breaks'' (1999) *''It Can't Go On'' (2001) *''S.O.S.'' (2001) *''The Works'' (2003) *''Love Is Strange'' (2005) *''Jack the Lad and Bloody Mary'' (2007) *''England's Lane'' (2012) *''Boys and Girls'' (2014) *''Style'' (2015) *''This is 64'' (2016) Most of h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Harding
Mike Harding (born 23 October 1944) is an English singer, songwriter, comedian, writer, broadcaster and musician. Early life and education Harding's father, Louis Arthur "Curly" Harding, a navigator in the RAF, was killed in the Second World War, a month before his son's birth. Harding was educated at St Anne's, Crumpsall, and St Bede's College, Manchester. He has written of the abuse inflicted on pupils at St Bede's, a Roman Catholic school. After a varied career as a road digger, dustbin man, schoolteacher, steel erector, bus conductor, boiler scaler and chemical factory worker, he took a degree in English and Education at the University of Manchester. Professional career Harding began performing as a folk singer and as a member of several local Manchester bands in the 1960s, making his first recordings for the Topic label. He began telling jokes between songs, eventually extending them into longer humorous anecdotes which became the main focus of his act. He release ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Asplin
Richard Asplin (born on 28 November 1972 in London, England) is an English novelist working in the crime and comic novel genres. His first novel; ''T-Shirt and Genes'' was published by Arrow Books, an imprint of Random House in 2001. A romantic comedy addressing the perils of applying evolutionary psychology to modern relationships. It was praised by Tony Parsons as being “the funniest debut novel since The Rachel Papers”. ''T-Shirt and Genes'' was followed by ''Gagged (a thriller with jokes)'' in 2004 which is also published by Arrow Books. In 2009 Asplin's third novel, ''Conman'', was published by UK independent crime specialist No Exit Press. The book was shortlisted for the 2010 Gold Dagger award by the Crime Writers' Association The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) is a specialist authors' organisation in the United Kingdom, most notable for its "Dagger" awards for the best crime writing of the year, and the Diamond Dagger awarded to an author for lifetime achiev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Fry
Sir Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. He came to prominence as a member of the comic act Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in ''A Bit of Fry & Laurie'' (1989–1995) and ''Jeeves and Wooster'' (1990–1993). He also starred in the sketch series ''Alfresco (TV series), Alfresco'' (1983–1984) with Laurie, Emma Thompson, and Robbie Coltrane, and in ''Blackadder'' (1986–1989) alongside Rowan Atkinson. Since 2011 he has served as president of the mental health charity Mind (charity), Mind. In 2025, he was Knight Bachelor, knighted for services to mental health awareness, the environment and charity. Fry's film acting roles include playing Oscar Wilde in the film ''Wilde (film), Wilde'' (1997), for which he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor; Inspector Thompson in Robert Altman's murder mystery ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leslie Thomas
Leslie Thomas, OBE (22 March 1931 – 6 May 2014) was a Welsh author best known for his comic novel ''The Virgin Soldiers''. Early life Thomas was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales. His parents were David James Thomas and Dorothy Hilda Court who married in 1912. He had three brothers. He was orphaned in 1943 at the age of 12, when his mariner/stoker father was lost at sea and his mother died only a few months later from cancer. He was subsequently brought up in a Dr Barnardo's home; the story of this upbringing was the subject of his first, autobiographical, book, ''This Time Next Week''. Thomas attended Kingston Technical School and he then took a course in journalism at South-West Essex Technical College in Walthamstow. In 1949 he was called up for National Service and embarked on a two-year tour of duty in Singapore with the Royal Army Pay Corps. While there he was briefly involved with the military action against communist rebels in the Malayan emergency. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Sykes
Eric Sykes (4 May 1923 – 4 July 2012) was an English radio, stage, television and film writer, comedian, actor and director whose performing career spanned more than 50 years. He frequently wrote for and performed with many other leading comedy performers and writers of the period, including Tony Hancock, Spike Milligan, Tommy Cooper, Peter Sellers, John Antrobus and Johnny Speight. Sykes first came to prominence through his many radio credits as a writer and actor in the 1950s, which include collaboration on some scripts for '' The Goon Show''. He became a TV star in his own right in the early 1960s when he appeared with Hattie Jacques in several popular BBC comedy television series. Early life Sykes was born on 4 May 1923 in Oldham, Lancashire; his mother died three weeks later, leaving him and his two-year-old brother Vernon motherless. Their father was a labourer in a cotton mill and a former army sergeant. When Sykes was two, his father remarried and he gained ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helen Fielding
Helen Fielding (born 19 February 1958) is a British journalist, novelist and screenwriter, best known as the creator of the fictional character Bridget Jones. Fielding’s first novel was set in a refugee camp in East Africa and she started writing Bridget Jones in an anonymous column in London’s ''Independent'' newspaper. This turned into an unexpected hit, leading to four Bridget Jones novels and four movies. Fielding credits the success of Bridget Jones to tapping into the gap between how we all feel we are expected to be and how we really are. Fielding’s novel ''Bridget Jones's Diary'' (1996) became a surprise global bestseller, published in over 40 countries. Fielding continued to chronicle Bridget’s life in the novels ''Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason'' (1999), '' Bridget Jones’s Baby: the Diaries'' (2017) and '' Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy'' (2013) all of which became international bestsellers. In a survey conducted by ''The Guardian'', ''Bridget Jone ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nick Hornby
Nicholas Peter John Hornby (born 17 April 1957) is an English writer. He is best known for his memoir '' Fever Pitch'' (1992) and novels ''High Fidelity'' and '' About a Boy'', all of which were adapted into feature films. Hornby's work frequently touches upon music, sport, and the aimless and obsessive natures of his protagonists. His books have sold more than 5 million copies worldwide as of 2018. In a 2004 poll for the BBC, Hornby was named the 29th most influential person in British culture. He has received two Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay nominations for '' An Education'' (2009), and ''Brooklyn'' (2015). Early life and education Hornby was born in Redhill, Surrey, the son of Sir Derek Hornby, the chairman of London and Continental Railways, and Margaret Audrey Withers. He was brought up in Maidenhead, and educated at Maidenhead Grammar School and Jesus College, Cambridge, where he read English. His parents divorced when he was eleven. Before becoming a nov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
