What's so Funny about Richard Nixon? Vonnegut's "Jailbird" and the Limits of Comedy
This essay explores the questionable potency of satire in the light of Richard Nixon's political rehabilitation. Following a discussion of satirical treatments from the 1940s to the 1980s by, among others, the cartoonists Herbert Block ('Herblock') and Garry Trudeau, the comedians Mor...
| Veröffentlicht in: | Journal of American Studies. - Cambridge University Press. - 41(2007), 3, Seite 623-639 |
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| 1. Verfasser: | |
| Format: | Online-Aufsatz |
| Sprache: | English |
| Veröffentlicht: |
2007
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| Zugriff auf das übergeordnete Werk: | Journal of American Studies |
| Schlagworte: | Arts Social sciences Economics Behavioral sciences Political science Law |
| Zusammenfassung: | This essay explores the questionable potency of satire in the light of Richard Nixon's political rehabilitation. Following a discussion of satirical treatments from the 1940s to the 1980s by, among others, the cartoonists Herbert Block ('Herblock') and Garry Trudeau, the comedians Mort Sahl and Lenny Bruce, and writers including Philip Roth and Robert Coover, I examine one work extensively - Kurt Vonnegut's "Jailbird" (1979) - as a disquisition on satiric impotence, setting that novel in the context of the comedic firepower that had been directed at Nixon since the dawn of his political career and which, in the end, could not prevent his rehabilitation. |
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| ISSN: | 14695154 |
| DOI: | 10.2307/27558051 |