# Are there any great works of literature that are not funny? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 8, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878 "2012-08-08T16:28:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/21 "2012-08-08T19:40:06Z")
The last truly great book I’ve read that showed absolutely nothing resembling humor was Arthur Koestler’s _ **Darkness at Noon.** _ ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/22 "2012-08-08T19:42:02Z")
> [@Clark\_Cello](#): > > I would disagree with “The Grapes of Wrath”. I think there is a decent amount of humor there. Definitely- there are several vignettes that show people swapping dirty jokes, for instance. Or, think of the Okie kids who get to use a flush toilet for the first time ever, at a government camp, then think they broke it when it starts shooting water. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/23 "2012-08-08T20:59:46Z")
I recently read John William’s [Stoner](http://www.amazon.com/Stoner-York-Review-Books-Classics/dp/1590171993/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344459451&sr=8-1&keywords=Stoner), which I think is little known, but very highly regarded. (The NYTBR critic called it a “perfect novel.”) Not funny at all. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/24 "2012-08-08T21:05:36Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > I’m still working my way through Moby Dick and I haven’t gotten to the depths of the book, but the beginning is hilarious. Or maybe it’s just Melville’s sense of humor and mine line up. It’s not just you. I was thinking about this thread this morning, and had almost the identical thought about Moby Dick – the beginning is hysterical. I think it helps to ground the rest of the story a little bit, so that it doesn’t become entirely allegorical. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/25 "2012-08-08T21:06:09Z")
**A Separate Peace** slays me every single time. When I was younger, **Where the Red Fern Grows** was laugh a minute. It wasn’t quite as funny as **The Color Purple** however. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/26 "2012-08-08T22:07:36Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > **A Separate Peace** slays me every single time. When I was younger, **Where the Red Fern Grows** was laugh a minute. It wasn’t quite as funny as **The Color Purple** however. Those aren’t as riotous as [The Painted Bird](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Painted_Bird), I wager. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/27 "2012-08-08T23:02:16Z")
In my experience, there’s less intentional humour in classical works. I don’t think I found anything particularly funny in the Aeneid, for example. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/28 "2012-08-08T23:15:34Z")
It’s been a while, but I don’t remember any humor in _Heart of Darkness_. Or the small amount of Faulkner I’ve read. Or Nathaniel Hawthorne, but maybe that’s because he put me to sleep before I got to it. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/29 "2012-08-09T00:12:30Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > In my experience, there’s less intentional humour in classical works. I don’t think I found anything particularly funny in the Aeneid, for example. Whoa, hey, the Aeneid in particular may not be the most side-splitting thing that the ancient world came up with\*, but put down the mile-wide brush, dude. The Romans had a whole genre of comedy, as did the Greeks. Also, while the Aeneid is on the sombre side, the Homeric epics that inspired it are profoundly funny at times. The Odyssey, especially, is deeply comic throughout. (\*Though I can’t help picturing Hermes reminding Aeneas of his destiny as a comic episode: - Wow, hanging out here in Carthage with Dido sure is awesome. I’ll just grab another bowl of wine and… hey, Hermes, what are you doing here? - Look, Aenas, dude, the boss man sent me… - Yeah? What’s up? - Look, dude, I know you’re living the good life here with this chick and all, and she seems really nice, but… well, the the thing is that you should have been in Italy like, a year ago, and the boss wants you to get a move on. That new culture over there isn’t founding itself. - FUCK! I knew there was something I was supposed to do… OK, OK! Let me just get my stuff together, and… but wait, Dido will be PISSED! - Well, tough shit, dude. - OK, tell you what. I know what we’ll do. I’ll just have the guys get the boat ready, and we’ll sneak out of here _real quiet…_) ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/30 "2012-08-09T00:35:24Z")
Sometimes when reading Goethe I have the paralyzing suspicion that he is trying to be funny. - Guy Davenport ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/31 "2012-08-09T01:08:53Z")
Everything by the Brontes had one to three beautiful examples of acerbic wit. And that was it. I am not entirely certain what a moor is, but I know I never want to live by one. > [@hogarth](#): > > In my experience, there’s less intentional humour in classical works. I don’t think I found anything particularly funny in the Aeneid, for example. Either you never read the right translation, or your classical Greek (pardon me) sucks. The Aeneid, though not as funny as the Odyssey, had a strong line of mocking, irreverent, and black humor. > [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > It’s been a while, but I don’t remember any humor in _Heart of Darkness_. Or the small amount of Faulkner I’ve read. Or Nathaniel Hawthorne, but maybe that’s because he put me to sleep before I got to it. I now have a vision of Hawthorne, Faulkner, and Conrad in the sitting before the fire with the Brontes, as confused as they are unhappy. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/32 "2012-08-09T02:03:36Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > A novel with characters named Pip, Compeyson, Drummle, Gargery, Jaggers, Magwitch, Orlick, Pocket, Pumblechook, Skiffins, Startop, Waldengarver, Wemmick, and Wopsle can’t be said to be totally humorless. Wemmick himself is a very amusing character, especially in the way he segregates his personal and professsional identities. I don’t recall any humor in **Antigone** nor in Corneille’s **Le Cid**. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/33 "2012-08-09T02:22:12Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I don’t recall any humor in **Antigone** nor in Corneille’s **Le Cid**. There’s at least some comic relief in Antigone, like the guard who is scared stiff that he will get the blame for burying Polynices, and explains how the guards all drew lots to decide who would give the message to the king, because none of them had the balls to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/34 "2012-08-09T02:28:49Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > Sometimes when reading Goethe I have the paralyzing suspicion that he is trying to be funny. > > - Guy Davenport Well, to each their own - and anyhow, I can’t get the (partly remembered, very loose) translation exactly right, but… _Mephistopheles: Such a Holy Joe you are! You’ve spent bunches of years as a professor, claiming to your students that you know the ways of God and nature, and the hearts and souls of men – come on now, did you know even as much about such things as you know about what happened to this schmuck Schwerdtlein (nothing, that is)?_ Not slapstick, but at least very heavy sarcasm. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/35 "2012-08-09T02:48:17Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Great Expectations. Gaaaahhhh. WHAT? Okay, so I first read that when one does tend to read Dickens, i.e., too young. But when I read it a second time in college it was hilarious! The school? Seriously? ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/36 "2012-08-09T02:48:41Z")
IIRC (this is based on the one Greek drama class I took in college) there’s the occasional comic relief in the works of Aeschylus or Sophocles, and a good bit more in Euripides’s plays. He seems to have had quite the snarky sense of humor, although his intentions aren’t always clear. Some critics over the millennia have felt that he relied too heavily on _deus ex machina_ endings and didn’t even pull them off very well, while others have argued that these endings must have been meant as satire. For example, at the end of _Orestes_ the god Apollo appears suddenly to set things right, which includes telling Orestes he needs to marry the girl he was about to murder! ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/37 "2012-08-09T02:54:53Z")
> [@j666](#): > > I am not entirely certain what a moor is, but I know I never want to live by one. Why, are you worried that they’ll drive the property values down? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/38 "2012-08-09T03:49:58Z")
I have found none of the examples given to even approach being funny. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/39 "2012-08-09T04:04:58Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Why, are you worried that they’ll drive the property values down? The moors, or the Brontes? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/40 "2012-08-09T04:34:00Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > Silas Marner (for certain notions of “great”) This was my first thought. It’s been a very long time since I’ve read it, but I don’t recall any humor in _A Tale of Two Cities_. OTOH, I think Raymond Chandler’s books have lots of humor in them. The darkest, most humorless writer I can think of is James Ellroy. I think some of his books are great, and they are all incredibly bleak and pessimistic, but I’m not sure how widely shared that opinion is. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878.md?page=3)