Does Comic Literature Matter?

We'll be discussing this question at our 2024 Close Reads gathering in October

“There is no surer foundation for a beautiful friendship
than a mutual taste in literature.”
― P.G. Wodehouse

Hey friends,

Comedy is a complicated thing. On the one hand, it’s incredibly hard to be genuinely funny. On the other hand, genuinely funny people make it look easy. And, while we all like to laugh and it’s said that laughter is the best medicine and all that, what is the place of humor? Does it have a higher purpose other than offering escapism? Or perhaps escapism is enough? And what makes a book funny anyway? Heidi, Sean, Tim, and I will be digging into this topic in October at our next Close Reads event. I hope you’ll join us.

We’ll be meeting in a really cool former textile mill (in a space owned by a local brewery), eating good food together, and talking about books. Sounds like a great Autumn day, right?

The reading list and schedule are below, but you can also click here for more information and to register.

Here are the some of the questions we’ll be contemplating:

• Can funny books be as good as serious ones?

• What makes some books funnier than others?

• Can a fundamentally comic book make spiritual points?

• What's the purpose of dark comedy?

• Are there differences between American comic literature and that of the English persuasion?

• What do puns, quips, double meanings, and other forms of wordplay have to do with it?

• Do trousers actually matter? Can a person be civilized and also dislike argyle socks?

This is a wonderful community and we can’t wait spend some time with you in person.

Just a little conversation at last year’s event in Atlanta

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SCHEDULE

This schedule is theoretically subject to change (as to the whims and flights of fate).

Friday
2-4 pm - Meet and greet at Goldberry Books
5-6:30 - Welcome and Close Reads variety hour (David)
6:30-7:30 - Catered dinner 
7:30-8:15 - “The Comic Impulse of the Cosmic Order” (Heidi)
8:30-9:30 - Panel session on the “Worter Drinking Party” scene from Jayber Crow
9:30-11 - Brewery hangout for those who wish 

Saturday
9 am - 9:30 - A Comic Turn: Wodehouse or Shakespeare
9:30 - 10:30 - “How Shakespeare Wrote Funny Scenes” (Tim)
11-12 - “Coping Mechanisms: On Gallows Humor in Post-war Literature (and what it means for today)” (Sean)
12-1 - Catered lunch
1-2 - Breakouts 
2:30-3:30 - Panel session on “Jeeves Takes Charge”
4-5 - Live recording of an episode: Is Flannery O’Connor funny?
5:00 - Final thoughts for the road 

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READING LIST

• Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare)

• The Loved Ones (Evelyn Waugh)

• Carry on, Jeeves (PG Wodehouse)

• “Good Country People” (Flannery O’Connor)

• “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” (Mark Twain)

• The “Worter Drinking Party” scene from Jayber Crow

• “The Nose” (Gogol)

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You never know where CR on the Road will take you.

We hope to see you here! The Close Reads community is worth a trip, we’ve found.

(By the way, don’t let money keep you from coming. If you can afford the registration fee shoot me an email via david@goldberrybooks.com and we’ll see if we can figure something out).

Until then, happy reading!

“As we grow older and realize more clearly the limitations of human happiness, we come to see that the only real and abiding pleasure in life is to give pleasure to other people.”
― P.G. Wodehouse, Something Fresh