Knowra Comic novel Comic novel A novel that uses humor, irony, or absurdity to portray human behavior and social life. Its comedy may expose vanity, folly, hypocrisy, or social conventions.
Satire : A mode of criticism that uses ridicule, irony, or exaggeration to expose folly or wrongdoing. Comic novels often use ridicule to reveal the faults of people and institutions.
Don Quixote : Miguel de Cervantes’s novel about an idealistic hidalgo whose chivalric fantasies collide with ordinary life. Its comic mismatch between fantasy and reality became a foundational model for the novel.
Menippean satire : A satirical tradition that attacks mental attitudes through mixtures of prose, verse, fantasy, and learned parody. Its blend of intellectual parody and fantastic episodes informs many comic novels.
Tragicomedy : A dramatic or narrative form combining elements of tragedy and comedy. Comic novels may include serious consequences, but their governing perspective differs from tragicomedy’s balance.
Irony : A contrast between an apparent meaning or expectation and what is actually meant or occurs. Irony lets a comic novel expose gaps between characters’ beliefs and their behavior.
The Pickwick Papers : Charles Dickens’s episodic novel following Samuel Pickwick and his companions through comic adventures. Its eccentric characters and social episodes exemplify the expansive comic novel.
Roman comedy : The comic drama of ancient Rome, especially plays by Plautus and Terence. Its mistaken identities and stock characters supplied plots later adapted by comic fiction.
Comedy of manners : A comic form that satirizes the manners and social conventions of a particular class. It is often dramatic and narrowly focused, while comic novels can encompass broader lives and societies.
Farce : A comic form built on improbable situations, misunderstandings, and exaggerated physical or verbal action. Farce supplies comic novels with escalating mishaps and absurd complications.
Pride and Prejudice : Jane Austen’s novel about Elizabeth Bennet, marriage, class, and misjudgment in Regency England. Its irony turns courtship and social manners into sharp comedy.
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