Five Satires to Read While the Economy Goes Up in Flames

My biggest gripe concerning modern satire is that most, if not all, of the current crop of alleged satirists is that they seem to have confused vulgarity and the verbal equivalence of slapstick comedy with literature.

To remedy this shortcoming on the parts of these alleged authors, please allow me to list my personal choices, in no particular order, as the five best political satires to read while you watch the economy goes down the toilet.

Candide, by Voltaire (1759)

OK, I know that Candide isn't strictly a political satire but I included it anyway simply because it's probably the best satire ever written on any subject, with politics thrown in for free!

Candide is responsible for one of the most enduring, if not overly optimistic, characters in western literature: Dr. Pangloss who, even in the direst circumstances imaginable, repeatedly assures Candide that they are living "in the best of all possible worlds."

If you decide to read Candide, try your hand at determining what Voltaire meant by the last sentence in the book.

Animal Farm, by George Orwell (1945)

In Josef Stalin's heyday merely mentioning Animal Farm was enough to get you hauled away by the secret police, and actually having a copy could earn you a standing room only view of a firing squad. I just figured that anything Stalin was opposed to has to be a good idea.

For you trivia buffs, what is probably the most misquoted line in the history of literature is from Animal Farm: "All pigs are equal, but some pigs are more equal than others." The line actually reads "All animals are equal, but ..."

The History of John Bull, by John Arbuthnot (ca 1712)

As almost everyone knows, "John Bull" was the political cartoonists' character of choice when it came to portraying Great Britain during the Victorian era. What most people don't know is that the character is taken from John Arbuthnot's satire of the events leading up to, and including, what was then known as the War of Spanish Succession.

John Bull is told, from the English Tory point of view, as the story of a lawsuit brought by Bull (England) and Frog (Netherlands) against Louis Baboon (Louis XIV of France) and Lord Strut (Louis' nephew, whom Louis wanted to succeed to the Spanish Crown). Since many of the events and characters in Bull are symbolic and probably not familiar to non-historians, it is fortunate that Arbuthnot was wise enough to include numerous explanatory footnotes. Either that, or he was able to predict the literacy status of the public school system almost 200 years into the future.

The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers, by Jonathan Swift (ca 1707)

Everyone knows Jonathan Swift from Gulliver's Travels. Although I agree that Gulliveris among the best-written, and influential, books of all time, I must point out that Swift also wrote the story of one of the greatest practical jokes in the history of the English-speaking world, The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers.

There was no love lost between Swift, who saw himself as a modernist/realist, and those that clung to the older pseudo-sciences such as making horoscopes to sell to the public in the form of yearly almanacs. As he clearly stated, Bickerstaff was written "... to prevent the people of England from being farther imposed on by vulgar almanack-makers." To accomplish this worthy purpose Swift, probably with the help of his drinking buddies John Arbuthnot and Alexander Pope, wrote his own almanac (which Swift signed as "Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq." which he then filled with deliberately vague predictions save one: that the then-famous "almanck-maker," John Partridge, would die on a certain date.

On the day prior to Partridge's predicted departure, Swift arranged to have a London newspaper print Partridge's obituary; along with a story proclaiming "Bickerstaff's" prediction to have indeed been true. Partridge soon found that no one would believe that he hadn't died!

Trust me, a mere summary of the accusations made by Partridge and the replies of Bickerstaff cannot do justice to the subject!

"So what does that have to do with political satire?" you might ask. I simply point out that the public's annoying habit of accepting anything published in a newspaper as the gospel truth isn't a modern development.

The Land beyond the Blow, by Ambrose Bierce (ca 1892)

OK, it's time for one of those full disclosure things: I am a big fan of Ambrose Bierce. In fact, I had a rough time deciding what Bierce story to suggest. I took the easy way out and have decided to recommend the entire Volume I of his Collected Works. All you need do is click the above link and start reading. But I will warn you: Bierce is addictive and I take no responsibility if you get hooked on the old boy.

Trivia note: Ambrose Bierce is the title character in Carlos Fuentes' Old Gringo.