Comments on: Laugh-out-loud funny classic lit?

Question: Laugh-out-loud funny classic lit?

mediareport — Mon, 08 May 2006 21:03:21 -0800

Any suggestions for classic literature that offers the hope of belly laughs? I'm looking for laugh-out-loud funny classic fiction, preferably pre-1900. Kind of like this question, but with books instead of movies. I've been on a classic lit kick lately, and after finishing (and enjoying) a fairly serious, gritty and occasionally dryly funny series of Chekhov short stories I'm in the mood for something lighter. If it helps, I like a lot of modern comic fiction (Terry Pratchett, George Saunders, McSweeney's folks, e.g.), and love when Shakespeare gets madcap. I also laugh out loud at Patrick O'Brian's comedy of manners stuff in the Aubrey/Matin books, but for some reason I'm skeptical when friends use that to recommend Jane Austen for laughs. Open to Greek/Roman stuff, too, as long as it doesn't require a knowledge of G/R history (which I don't have) to get the jokes.

By: mediareport

mediareport — Mon, 08 May 2006 21:06:49 -0800

(Er, that should be Aubrey/Maturin)

By: AmbroseChapel

AmbroseChapel — Mon, 08 May 2006 21:10:19 -0800

Jane Austen is only funny for women, I think.

Dickens? Diary Of A Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith? Anything by Jerome K Jerome?

By: lelilo

lelilo — Mon, 08 May 2006 21:17:45 -0800

Interesting, "humorous classical novels" on Google gets no results. I read The Pickwick Papers earlier this year, by Mr. Dickens, and laughed often. I was surprised to find it reminded me a lot of Monty Python.

Sections of Don Quixote, especially in the first part, are also quite madcap. And if you count Mark Twain as classic, you've got Huckleberry Finn.

Here's one guy's Top Five (not necessarily classic), of which I heartily recommend the first two I've read almost 90 books by P. G. Wodehouse, and much of Evelyn Waugh's output. Scoop is brilliant.

By: Aghast.

Aghast. — Mon, 08 May 2006 21:18:42 -0800

Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov. It's quite madcap -- the father of the brothers especially.

It's not pre-1900 but I don't think I've laughed so much during a book as I did while reading Catcher in the Rye.

De Sade's Justine or the Misfortunes of Virtue has plenty of sick humor.

Don Quixote.

By: gnat

gnat — Mon, 08 May 2006 21:23:29 -0800

Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons is post 1900, but it satirizes earlier authors like D. H. Lawrence. An orphan arrives at a farm populated by her strange relatives and decides that she has to fix everything up.

By: misozaki

misozaki — Mon, 08 May 2006 21:24:09 -0800

As I recall, Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales can be hilarious in terms of references to people's bums etc. But I read it a long time ago, so I could be mistaken.

By: misozaki

misozaki — Mon, 08 May 2006 21:25:53 -0800

Also, comedies by Oscar Wilde are pre-1900.

By: advil

advil — Mon, 08 May 2006 21:28:28 -0800

I really like Jerome K Jerome's "three men in a boat" (1889). You can find it on the internet (project gutenburg among other places). (Also, I was led to it by Connie Willis' "to say nothing of the dog", which is modern, but sounds like you would like.)

By: nicwolff

nicwolff — Mon, 08 May 2006 21:29:01 -0800

Gargantua and Pantagruel.

By: fings

fings — Mon, 08 May 2006 21:30:05 -0800

Well, it's not pre-1900, but P.G. Wodehouse started writing in 1902. You can even get much of his work over at Project Gutenberg for free, if you do not mind reading on a screen or printing things out.

By: advil

advil — Mon, 08 May 2006 21:33:17 -0800

p.s. here's a link for "three men in a boat".

By: Aghast.

Aghast. — Mon, 08 May 2006 21:39:48 -0800

Rabelaisian refers to "coarse or uproarious humor" so Rabelais' books must be extremely funny to some people. I understand that it has lots of humor about body orifices and fluids -- grotesque humor.

By: box

box — Mon, 08 May 2006 21:49:43 -0800

I second-third-whatnot the Rabelais. Maybe Swift, maybe Pope, maybe Aristophanes, maybe Chaucer if you can get past the language.

By: tula

tula — Mon, 08 May 2006 21:53:32 -0800

Back in high school my English class read Tom Jones by Henry Fielding, and we all thought is was racy and pretty hilarious, especially read aloud.

By: occhiblu

occhiblu — Mon, 08 May 2006 21:54:54 -0800

I remember laughing a great deal at (with?) Vanity Fair, and I normally hate Victorian lit.

By: quarked

quarked — Mon, 08 May 2006 21:56:42 -0800

Wodehouse absolutely seconded. Dickens and Wilde, too. Lewis Carroll perhaps. I'm reading Vanity Fair right now and Thackeray's got plenty of comic zest.

Maybe too recent, but you might like the early New Yorker writers from the '30s and '40s. Especially James Thurber, Dorothy Parker (though her reviews outshine her fiction), and Robert Benchley.

By: Steven C. Den Beste

Steven C. Den Beste — Mon, 08 May 2006 21:57:36 -0800

Large parts of "Life on the Mississippi" and "Roughing It" are quite funny. (Mark Twain again.)

By: maxreax

maxreax — Mon, 08 May 2006 22:06:25 -0800

Fielding's Tom Jones for sure, and most Chaucer stuff (read aloud). But I can't recommed Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne enough. Postmodern humor before modernism even existed.

By: Guy Smiley

Guy Smiley — Mon, 08 May 2006 22:28:00 -0800

That Moliere really pumps my nads.

By: LarryC

LarryC — Mon, 08 May 2006 22:29:01 -0800

Candide by Voltaire is a hoot. And I second Mark Twain and Oscar Wilde. And oh God yes, Tom Jones! Also Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone. Oh, and Chesterton.

By: jne1813

jne1813 — Mon, 08 May 2006 22:35:44 -0800

Dickens' The Pickwick Papers and (not pre-1900 but good none the less) Anthony Burgess The Wanting Seed

By: Manjusri

Manjusri — Mon, 08 May 2006 22:49:22 -0800

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas is a great read, and laugh-out-loud funny as well as a rollicking adventure novel.

By: ab3

ab3 — Mon, 08 May 2006 23:22:53 -0800

Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary. Anything by Twain, though his later stuff is dark. Swift, especially A Modest Proposal. Any of Shakespeare's comedies. Voltaire's Candide. Harris' Song of the South, politically incorrect as it may be, is often quite funny, as are most tales rooted in trickster mythology. JM Barrie, Beatrix Potter, Lewis Carroll and E.E. Milne have their moments of laugh-out-loud humor too.

By: Opposite George

Opposite George — Tue, 09 May 2006 00:34:20 -0800

Seconds here for Candide and Don Quixote.

By: leapingsheep

leapingsheep — Tue, 09 May 2006 01:12:48 -0800

Anything, anything, by Mark Twain.

By: Goofyy

Goofyy — Tue, 09 May 2006 01:44:56 -0800

For a lite and funny read, Mark Twain's "Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" is a serious hoot. When I read it, I had a library copy with illustrations, which added much to the humor. I don't know if the illustrations were part of the original or not, but I liked them, and they fit the spirit of the humor perfectly.

By: mittenedsex

mittenedsex — Tue, 09 May 2006 02:17:00 -0800

Wow misozaki recommended the two that came to my mind.

As I recall, Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales can be hilarious in terms of references to people's bums etc. But I read it a long time ago, so I could be mistaken.
Seconding Canterbury Tales, though most people tend to hate it (inverted phrasing, older English, etc). If you can manage to get through it though, it's pretty rewarding/funny.

Also, comedies by Oscar Wilde are pre-1900.
Importance of Being Earnest!!!! Literally made me laugh out loud.

By: Sticherbeast

Sticherbeast — Tue, 09 May 2006 03:07:42 -0800

Jerome K Jerome, Evelyn Waugh, P. G. Wodehouse, Chaucer, Swift, and Maldoror spring to mind.

By: kimota

kimota — Tue, 09 May 2006 03:19:20 -0800

Tom Jones didn't do much for me, but Fielding's The Historical Register For The Year 1736 was laugh out loud funny, and a quick read, to boot!

By: the duck by the oboe

the duck by the oboe — Tue, 09 May 2006 04:32:19 -0800

'Moby Dick' is quite funny in parts.

By: saladin

saladin — Tue, 09 May 2006 04:40:35 -0800

The high-society scenes in Dickens's Our Mutual Friend are hysterical.

I also thought James's Washington Square was pretty hilarious.

By: picopebbles

picopebbles — Tue, 09 May 2006 04:41:59 -0800

Wodehouse of course, and also Bennett's The Grand Babylon Hotel. It's just a tiny bit (2 years) late for inclusion under the pre-1900 rule, but oh man is it worth it.

By: josh

josh — Tue, 09 May 2006 04:50:19 -0800

Jane Austen is only funny for women, I think.

This is crazy! I would read Pride and Prejudice; it's hilarious from the first page to the last. Really. (And one of the greatest novels ever written, etc.)

I'll also second Wilde, Dickens, and Cervantes, obviously--but I'll add to the list Henry Green, an English novelist writing in the 40s and 50s. His novel Loving is probably one of the funniest (and best) novels I've read in years. He is like a more Modernist, working-class version of Evelyn Waugh.

By: amtho

amtho — Tue, 09 May 2006 05:40:12 -0800

I just read a book called "Scaramouche". Sorry, I forget the author, but it was set in pre-revolutionary France and was so, so funny. I went looking around to see if anyone had made it into a play; someone had, but reviews were mixed.

The main character starts out as a young lawyer and ends up being a Commedia dell'Arte actor, then a fencing instructor, then, of course, a revolutionary. That's the least of it.

I very much recommend "Scaramouche". If enough people read it, maybe I'll get to see the movie once it's made.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Tue, 09 May 2006 05:41:22 -0800

I think what you're looking for, I mean what most fits your description, is Tristram Shandy.

I also think Jane Austen is really great and really funny, although not really the laugh out loud kind (for the most part).

By: phoenixc

phoenixc — Tue, 09 May 2006 05:43:02 -0800

Definitely with Josh on Pride and Prejudice. I read it the first time in high school and for whatever reason, it wasn't nearly as funny then as it is now. I was inspired to pick it up again after watching the Keira Knightly version of the film this weekend.

By: nonane

nonane — Tue, 09 May 2006 05:51:04 -0800

amtho: Rafael Sabatini is the author of Scaramouche and a whole bunch of other swashbuckling novels. "He was born with a gift of laughter, and a sense that the world was mad" - and there was a 1952 movie version.

By: Dr. Wu

Dr. Wu — Tue, 09 May 2006 06:06:52 -0800

I'm almost done with Boccaccio's THE DECAMERON (tenth day, fourth story!), and have been laughing out loud pretty damn regularly.

By: dorian

dorian — Tue, 09 May 2006 06:37:42 -0800

h.h. munro aka saki. you can (sadly) get all of his work in one volume, even.

jerome, twain, wilde and wodehouse, agreed.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Tue, 09 May 2006 06:38:44 -0800

Oblomov. My wife and I took turns reading it to each other and literally had to stop because we had tears of laughter rolling down our faces.

Twain, of course, and Wilde—"The Importance of Being Earnest" is perhaps the funniest play ever written. I saw it just the other day (the great movie with Edith Evans et al) and laughed as hard as ever. Boccaccio too.

You people recommending Austen and Henry Green have an odd definition of "belly laughs."

By: languagehat

languagehat — Tue, 09 May 2006 06:39:22 -0800

Sorry, I meant to link that: Oblomov.

By: clockwork

clockwork — Tue, 09 May 2006 06:59:33 -0800

Balzac! I find Pere Goriot to be a complete and total laugharama.

By: fugitivefromchaingang

fugitivefromchaingang — Tue, 09 May 2006 07:40:38 -0800

Pickwick Papers. The Decameron.

You people recommending Austen and Henry Green have an odd definition of "belly laughs."

Yeah. Some of these suggestions are jaw-dropping. Moby Dick? Henry James? Candide?

By: cptnrandy

cptnrandy — Tue, 09 May 2006 07:41:27 -0800

Three Men In A Boat (to say nothing of the dog).

Wickedly funny.

By: saladin

saladin — Tue, 09 May 2006 07:44:02 -0800

fugitivefromchaingang: If you've never read Washington Square, I think you'll be surprised by how funny (and un-James like) it is. I know I was.

By: jdroth

jdroth — Tue, 09 May 2006 07:45:06 -0800

Vanity Fair is hilarious: full of subtle and not-so-subtle wit. Dickens has his moments, though it's not his intention to maintain the comic hijinks. Austen can be funny, too, but again it's more of just periodic observations of manners. (Pride and Prejudice has many funny moments and great comic characters, though.) I believe that most classics have certain comic elements that many people miss because they approach them with the wrong attitude.

By: dorian

dorian — Tue, 09 May 2006 07:56:22 -0800

oh and also kingsley amis, esp lucky jim.

By: theora55

theora55 — Tue, 09 May 2006 08:24:00 -0800

Kingsley Amis, Lucky Jim. Post WWII. Very British, very, very funny. And a second for P.G. Wodehouse.

By: theora55

theora55 — Tue, 09 May 2006 08:24:26 -0800

okay, so preview would have bene a good idea.

By: nev

nev — Tue, 09 May 2006 09:08:48 -0800

I've been reading a lot of pre-1900 literature lately. Tom Jones and Tristram Shandy both have totally hilarious passages, but they can be few and far between in these very long books. I suspect it's more satirical than a modern reader can appreciate; a lot of the humor in both books concerns specific contemporary events.

I found that one way to get a real appreciation for the comedy in these books is to skip right to the A&E/BBC adaptations. They tend to be long enough to still capture the full scope of the work, but focus on the parts that a modern viewer can appreciate. The 1997 miniseries for Tom Jones, in particular, is incredibly enjoyable and much closer to the book than the 1963 movie.

By: Gable Oak

Gable Oak — Tue, 09 May 2006 09:34:33 -0800

Frederick Marryat's Midshipman Easy is on the top of my list for goofy, laugh-out-loud classic literature. If you like Patrick O'Brien, it'll help you "get" some of the jokes. Up for some period non-fiction as well? James Gardner's autobiography Above and Under Hatches is pretty funny at times!

By: Ohdemah

Ohdemah — Tue, 09 May 2006 10:06:46 -0800

Another Henry Fielding suggestion: The Tragedy of Tragedies: or, The Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great.

By: Lynsey

Lynsey — Tue, 09 May 2006 11:01:48 -0800

I would propose O. Henry, whose Ransom of Red Chief is still one of my all-time favorite American humor stories. I should note that not all of his stories were humorous; he was better known for his surprise endings, as in his Gift of the Magi.

By: Lynsey

Lynsey — Tue, 09 May 2006 11:02:32 -0800

And what dorian said about Saki....

By: ChromeDome

ChromeDome — Tue, 09 May 2006 11:08:42 -0800

Stephen Leacock's Nonsense Novels (ca. 1911) is quite amusing. I think it's available from Project Gutenberg. Agree with the Wodehouse suggestions, and would add S. J. Perelman to the list of early New Yorker writers.

By: nancoix

nancoix — Tue, 09 May 2006 11:33:59 -0800

Nikolai Gogol's Diary of a Madman is very Monty-Pythonesque.

By: sic

sic — Tue, 09 May 2006 12:31:07 -0800

Zeno's conscience by Italo Svevo made me laugh out loud. Also I second Tristam Shandy.

By: komilnefopa

komilnefopa — Tue, 09 May 2006 12:54:47 -0800

I seem to remember Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer (18th-century play) as being funny when we read it in college.

By: mediareport

mediareport — Tue, 09 May 2006 18:29:07 -0800

Thanks, y'all; these are great, and much more than I expected, so I'll be keeping this list handy for a while. I probably should have mentioned I've read Wilde, Carroll, Chaucer and a few others. Thanks especially to the folks who nudged me in the direction of Candide: I started it today and have been laughing a lot, starting on page 2, when Candide's true love watches Pangloss "giving a lesson in experimental physics" [cough] to the maid. I'm halfway through it, and it's just the kind of hoot I was looking for. Re: the others, I'm embarrassed to admit Twain hadn't even occurred to me ("Letters from Earth" is an old fave), and Three Men in a Boat, Oblomov, Svevo, Wodehouse, Waugh and the rest sound like great places to go next. Thanks again!

By: blue grama

blue grama — Tue, 09 May 2006 20:11:37 -0800

Guliver's Travels. Also seconding Three Men in a Boat and its sequel, Three Men on the Bummel.

By: rjs

rjs — Sun, 14 May 2006 00:30:47 -0800

The Golden Ass by Apuleius is pretty funny, though possibly not as funny as the English title suggests.

By: taita_cakes

taita_cakes — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 00:01:52 -0800

I cannot believe a single person has not recommended Catch 22. Probably the funniest, yet down to earth and human novel you'll read for a while. Greatest read I've had since leaving high school.