# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/41 "2012-08-09T12:38:54Z")
No humour in _Great Expectations_? That’s gotta be sarcastic, right? Blatant example: Miss Haversham, an old lady who was jilted on her wedding day and keeps her whole mansion and clothes exactly as they were at that moment, letting everything slowly rot… I mean, it’s not three Stooges or Marx Brothers humour, it’s mid 1800s, but it’s pretty amusing. I know a lot of people who are like that (metaphorically), wanting the past to stay frozen and not admitting that tempus fugits.\* Dickens’ humour is often satirical rather than ha-ha, but it’s there. \*[sub]Yes, I know, it’s a ref to _The Music Man_[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/42 "2012-08-09T13:53:49Z")
> [@ministryman](#): > > Seriously, the Bible does have a lot of humor, but not in the Laurel and Hardy sense. More in the Shakespearean/Stephen Wright/Robin Williams/Clive Barker/Twilight Zone sense. Some of the jokes are not funny, because you don’t understand the customs of the time. > > Example 1: A man molests the sister of another man (Names are omitted because I’m too tired to dig out my Bible and I’m at work - It’s Genesis 34, look it up). The penalty is death. The molester begs and pleads to marry the woman. No dice. The offended man says the molester can have her and everybody can be friends IF he and his tribe are circumcised. > > So the man and his tribe agree. A few days later, the offended man and his tribe kill every last one of the now-in-pain men. > > Pretty funny, huh? Kinda like a Old Testament Pulp Fiction scene… Excellent post, **ministryman**. A whole new (for me anyway) way of looking at the bible. That kind of rude macho humor I associated with, well Vikings. But it makes perfect sense that that is the kind of rough macho gory kind of humor that fighting men trade around the campfire, even when that campfire is in the Middle East and alcohol does not play as big a part in it as in Nordic stories. The Bible is about warriors, after all, especially the first parts. The emphasis on all the patriarchal parts rules and " thou shalts" kind of obscures that. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/43 "2012-08-09T14:02:36Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > No humour in _Great Expectations_? That’s gotta be sarcastic, right? … Dickens’ humour is often satirical rather than ha-ha, but it’s there. I agree. Dickens humor is often about catchphrases repeated often in incongruous circumstances. Like Pip’s older sister, who bosses both her kind husband and Pip around, yet keeps sighing that she works so hard and gets no respect and “I’m never out of my apron”. I thought it pretty funny how she keeps playing the martyr with that apron. Or that lawyer (not sure about his name) who bites his finger. A bad habit, like nail biting, right? No. That lawyer has turned his finger biting into an art, into a mighty weapon that sways judges and intimidates suspects and clients. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/44 "2012-08-09T14:05:01Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > There’s not a lot of laughs in _The Waste Land_ or anything by T. S. Eliot. 'Stetson! 'You who were with me in the ships at Mylae! 'That corpse you planted last year in your garden, 'Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year? 'Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed? 'O keep the Dog far hence, that’s friend to men, ‘Or with his nails he’ll dig it up again!’ … O O O O that Shakespeherian Rag It’s so elegant So intelligent Not, you know, a laugh riot, but there’s humor there. ---
**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 9, 2012, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/45 "2012-08-09T14:25:08Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > 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. Obviously I was excluding works that are clearly comedies! Well, I thought I was being obvious, anyways. > [@j666](#): > > Either you never read the right translation, or your classical Greek (pardon me) sucks. Could be; I read it in translation and I thought it was mostly boring and somber. Counterexamples are welcome, naturally. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/46 "2012-08-09T14:58:09Z")
I can’t think of much humor in Greek tragedy, unless you count Orestes’ nurse grumping about how much of a pain it is to take care of a baby. Irony, yes, but most of the time it’s meant to be the “bitter twist of fate” sort of irony rather than the funny kind. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/47 "2012-08-09T14:59:01Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Have you not read the book of Jonah? That story is not just funny; it’s _deliberately_ funny. While it’s not deliberately funny, I’ve always found the book of Job really funny. It does manage to be really legitimately depressing (as well as a pretty bad “just so” story for why bad things happen to good people), but I can never get the mental image out of my head that God and Satan are just sitting up in having a betting match with Satan begging to troll the high strung pious guy (which is basically what **is** happening, mind you, just with prettier words) out of my head. S: “Hey, man, that guy is REALLY into you I bet I could shatter that.” G: “Nah, man, that guy is like REALLY pious.” S: “Seriously, let me try, I totally could break him.” G: “Yeah, right, do your worst.” \ G: “Oh wow, I can’t believe you just did that! But see, he’s still strong.” S: “Wow, this dude has got it BAD, let me try again.” G: “I dunno, I think I won.” S: C’mon!" G: “Okay, fine. Try again” S: “Sweet, I know this will do the trick FOR SURE.” Et cetera et cetera. ---
**Author:** ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/48 "2012-08-09T15:19:39Z")
Jonah is the original FISH story… ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/49 "2012-08-09T15:30:50Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Thomas Hardy. Hardy-har-har. Not. I came to post that, so all that is left is, “I am Carnivorousplant, and I approve this message.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/50 "2012-08-09T15:35:35Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > 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_. It’s a pretty serious book, but there is Sydney Carton’s sardonic humor. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/51 "2012-08-09T16:31:50Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > There’s not a lot of laughs in _The Waste Land_ or anything by T. S. Eliot. What? “I grow old… I grow old… I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.” is one of the most hilarious stanzas in poetry, it’s stuck with me since school. ---
**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, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/52 "2012-08-09T16:34:46Z")
Many works by Edgar Allen Poe: “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” come to mind. Harlan Ellison’s “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.” Theodore Sturgeon’s “It.” ---
**Author:** ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/53 "2012-08-09T16:47:04Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > What? > “I grow old… I grow old… > I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.” > is one of the most hilarious stanzas in poetry, it’s stuck with me since school. Do I dare to eat a peach? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/54 "2012-08-09T17:14:48Z")
> [@ministryman](#): > > Do I dare to eat a peach? I really love your peaches Want to shake your tree Now that’s poetry. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/55 "2012-08-09T20:12:54Z")
Anyone who thinks the Bible is not funny should read David Plotz’s Good Book. He read the Old Testament, summarized and commented on each chapter. That book is extremely well written, interesting and laugh out loud funny. ---
**Author:** ![whc.03grady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@whc.03grady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whc.03grady)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/56 "2012-08-09T20:20:57Z")
> [@ministryman](#): > > Seriously, the Bible does have a lot of humor… > > Example 1: A man molests the sister of another man (Names are omitted because I’m too tired to dig out my Bible and I’m at work - It’s Genesis 34, look it up). The penalty is death. The molester begs and pleads to marry the woman. No dice. The offended man says the molester can have her and everybody can be friends IF he and his tribe are circumcised. > > So the man and his tribe agree. A few days later, the offended man and his tribe kill every last one of the now-in-pain men. > > Pretty funny, huh? Kinda like a Old Testament Pulp Fiction scene… Uh, I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/57 "2012-08-09T20:26:43Z")
That was the story of Dinah, daughter to Jacob and sister of Judah, Simeon, Levi, Naptali, Issachar, Asher, Dan, Zebeulon, Gad, Benjamin, Judah and Joseph of Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat fame. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/58 "2012-08-09T21:25:25Z")
[QUOTE=ministryman] Seriously, the Bible does have a lot of humor… Example 1: A man molests the sister of another man (Names are omitted because I’m too tired to dig out my Bible and I’m at work - It’s Genesis 34, look it up). The penalty is death. The molester begs and pleads to marry the woman. No dice. The offended man says the molester can have her and everybody can be friends IF he and his tribe are circumcised. So the man and his tribe agree. A few days later, the offended man and his tribe kill every last one of the now-in-pain men. Pretty funny, huh? Kinda like a Old Testament Pulp Fiction scene… [/QUOTE] > [@whc.03grady](#): > > Uh, I don’t get it. From how I see it, the “joke” is that the tribe of the offended man (i.e., that of Judah, Simeon, Joseph, etc.) were always planning the massacre the other tribe no matter what. The request that they had to circumcise themselves was made only to just to dick with them (so to speak). In fact, it may have really been offered as a “go fuck yourself” type of proposal. They just didn’t expect the other tribe would be dumb enough to actually do it. ---
**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, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/59 "2012-08-09T22:57:58Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > I can’t think of much humor in Greek tragedy, unless you count Orestes’ nurse grumping about how much of a pain it is to take care of a baby. Irony, yes, but most of the time it’s meant to be the “bitter twist of fate” sort of irony rather than the funny kind. In Euripides’s _Orestes_ I remember there’s a bit where Orestes is sleeping and Electra is watching over him. The chorus comes in and she tells them to be quiet so they don’t wake him. But the chorus, being the chorus, _can’t_ really be quiet. They just keep _saying_ they’re being quiet, and the whole thing turns into a kind of “Stop it!”/“I’m not touching you!” exchange that I thought was pretty funny. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878/60 "2012-08-09T23:17:22Z")
Did many of Poe’s works have humor? Surely he wrote some that were nothing but frightening/sad/depressing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-great-works-of-literature-that-are-not-funny/630878.md?page=4)