Classic lit is fodder for amusing parodies

By Dinesh Ramde

There’s also something for the reader not into classical literature.

“The McSweeney’s Joke Book of Book Jokes” by the Editors of McSweeney’s (Vintage Books, $12.95).

Writing a joke book based on classic literature can be a dicey proposition. After all, Americans are better known for their short attention spans and addiction to reality TV. Would people really respond to humor based on the works of Shakespeare, Homer and Faulkner?

“The McSweeney’s Joke Book of Book Jokes” gives them plenty of reasons. This collection of wacky shorts hits the mark more often than not, and makes the reader feel plenty smart in the process.

Each vignette is short — one to four pages long — but that might be the only trait these eclectic works have in common.

Some contributors have taken a famous literary work and imagined what might have happened to the main characters years later. Others place fictional characters into real-life situations to envision the sort of high jinks that might ensue. (Winnie the Pooh’s misadventures are particularly endearing, as he’s clearly not cut out for the corporate world.)

Most pieces are funny enough, or at least loony enough, to stand on their own, even for readers only casually familiar with the work in question. For example, a reader who hasn’t actually read James Joyce would still enjoy Joyce’s fictional postcards to his brother Stan or his adventures while teaching an English as a second language class.

Even if you avoided classical literature, there’s still something in here for you. The Berenstain Bears and Dick and Jane take their turns getting lampooned, as do Harry Potter and Goofus and Gallant from Highlights magazine.

One of the funniest pieces is “A Lost Scene Involving Louis, a Turkey Character Cut During the Final Edit of ‘Charlotte’s Web.”’ It doesn’t take long to see why Louis doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of the barnyard animals.

Another winner is “Lady Macbeth on Ambien” in which Shakespeare’s famous sleepwalker wanders around in a drug-induced stupor. While in a sleeping-pill haze, she sits down to a feast so ravenous that a gentlewoman gasps, “Methinks the lady doth ingest too much.”

The McSweeney’s book answers questions most people wouldn’t even think to ask. If Homer were in a writers’ workshop, what kind of feedback might he get for “Odysseus”? How might Juliet have responded to Romeo if she were instead the sophomore squad’s head cheerleader? How might Grendel’s Mother have reacted if Grendel weren’t allowed into the honors math class?

Clearly the humor targets a highbrow crowd but the essays aren’t at all intimidating. In fact, the whole book feels as though a high school valedictorian and class clown teamed up on their final English project.

“The McSweeney’s Joke Book of Book Jokes” is a worthy collection, with vignettes that are witty, clever and bite-sized. Only a few of the essays are laugh-out-loud funny, but as a whole, the book is an entertaining read. If nothing else, it’ll make you feel better for all the time you invested in high school English.