Comic novel  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Gargantua eating six pilgrims from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais, as illustrated by Gustave Doré

Friar John and Panurge give the Blason and contreblason du couillon by François Rabelais

Lazarillo de Tormes (1808-1812) by Francisco Goya
"Before the blind man could withdraw his long nose that was choking Lazarillo, his "stomach revolted and discharged the stolen goods in his face, so that his nose and that hastily chewed sausage left (Lazarillo's) mouth at the same time".

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A comic novel is a work of fiction in which the writer seeks to amuse the reader: sometimes with subtlety and as part of a carefully woven narrative, sometimes above all other considerations.

Prototypes in ancient literature include A True Story by Lucian and The Golden Ass by Apuleius.

Later, there is Rabelais.

Henry Fielding's The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling and Tristram Shandy were notable mid-18th century works in the genre.

One of the most notable British comic novelists is P.G. Wodehouse, whose work follows on from that of Jerome Klapka Jerome and Weedon and Grossmith's The Diary of a Nobody.

Nor can Saki's work be ignored, although his career was cut short by the tragic waste of the Great War. G. K. Chesterton also produced flights of whimsy that delighted their reading audiences in their day. Other, more contemporary UK authors of this ilk include Tom Sharpe, Martin Amis, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Evelyn Waugh and Ben Elton.

Notable American comic novelists include Hunter S. Thompson, John Kennedy Toole, Robert Clark Young, Carl Hiaasen, Joseph Heller and Terry Southern.

See also

• Augustan prose
• Jest book
• Menippean satire
• Baroque comic fiction
• Cult fiction
• Comedy
• Satire
• The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1759-1767) by Laurence Sterne
• The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749) by Henry Fielding