Literature > Satire
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The Torrents of Spring
by Ernest Hemingway
First published in 1926, The Torrents of Spring is a hilarious parody of the Chicago school of literature. Poking fun at that great race of writers, it depicts a vogue that Hemingway himself refused to follow. In style and substance, The Torrents of Spring is a burlesque of Sherwood Anderson's Dark Laughter, but in the course of the narrative, other literary tendencies associated with American and British writers akin to Anderson -- such as D. H. Lawrence, James Joyce, and John Dos Passos -- come in for satirical comment.
Year: 1926
Genre: Satire
Cat's Cradle
by Kurt Vonnegut
Cat's Cradle is Kurt Vonnegut's satirical commentary on modern man and his madness. An apocalyptic tale of this planet's ultimate fate, it features a midget as the protagonist, a complete, original theology created by a calypso singer, and a vision of the future that is at once blackly fatalistic and hilariously funny. A book that left an indelible mark on an entire generation of readers, Cat's Cradle is one of the twentieth century's most important works--and Vonnegut at his very best.
Year: 1963
Genre: Apocalpyse, Satire
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater
by Kurt Vonnegut
Eliot Rosewater--drunk, volunteer fireman, and President of the fabulously rich Rosewater Foundation--is about to attempt a noble experiment with human nature . . . with a little help from writer Kilgore Trout. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater is Kurt Vonnegut's funniest satire, an etched-in-acid portrayal of the greed, hypocrisy, and follies of the flesh we are all heir to.
Year: 1965
Genre: Satire
Fertig
by Sol Yurick
Sol Yurick's cult novel, originally published in 1966, blasts the American judicial system and society in general. It was called 'one of the fiercest and most effective satires to come out of America in a decade' by The Spectator. Although written before his debut published novel The Warriors (1965), like that work, Fertig was eventually made into a movie--The Confession (1999) starring Ben Kingsley.
Year: 1966
Genre: Satire
Welcome to the Monkey House
by Kurt Vonnegut
"Welcome To The Monkey House" is a collection of Kurt Vonnueguts shorter works. Originally printed in publications as diverse as "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science fiction" and "The Atlantic Monthly," what these superb stories share is Vonnegut's audacious sense of humor and extraordinary range of creative vision.
Year: 1968
Genre: Satire, Science Fiction
Slaughterhouse-Five
by Kurt Vonnegut
Billy Pilgrim is the son of an American barber. He serves as a chaplain's assistant in World War II, is captured by the Germans, and he survives the largest massacre in European history the fire bombing of Dresden. After the war Billy makes a great deal of money as an optometrist, and on his wedding night he is kidnapped by a flying saucer from the planet Tralfamadore. So begins a modern classic by a master storyteller.
Year: 1969
Genre: Anti-War, Satire, Science Fiction, WWII: Post-War
Our Friends from Frolix 8
by Philip K. Dick
This satirical adventure from Philip K. Dick deals with issues of power, class, and politics, set in a world ruled by big-brained elites. The world is run by an elite few. And what determines whether one is part of the elite isn't wealth or privilege, but brains. As children, every citizen of Earth is tested; some are found to be super-smart New Men and some are Unusuals, with various psychic powers. The vast majority are Undermen, performing menial jobs in an overpopulated world.
Year: 1970
Genre: Satire, Science Fiction
Hawkshaw
by Ron Goulart
Science Fiction or Prophesy? It's a wild and wacky satire on today's political climate - to its mind-boggling extreme in a radically different United States ... thirty-odd years from now.
Year: 1972
Genre: Satire
Breakfast of Champions
by Kurt Vonnegut
In Breakfast of Champions, one of Kurt Vonnegut's most beloved characters, the aging writer Kilgore Trout, finds to his horror that a Midwest car dealer is taking his fiction as truth. What follows is murderously funny satire, as Vonnegut looks at war, sex, racism, success, politics, and pollution in America and reminds us how to see the truth.
Year: 1973
Genre: Satire
The Great American Novel
by Philip Roth
In this ribald, richly imagined, and wickedly satiric novel, Roth turns baseball's status as national pastime and myth into an occasion for unfettered picaresque farce, replete with heroism and perfidy, ebullient wordplay and a cast of characters that includes the House Un-American Activities Committee.
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