Sublime

“Top of the page: the title. Title.” Mr. Dickens mused, head down, rubbing his chin whiskers. “Pip, what’s a rare fine title for a novel that happens half in London, half in Paris?” “A—” I ventured. “Yes?” “A Tale,” I went on. “Yes?!” “A Tale of . . . Two Cities?!” “Madame!” Grandma looked up as he spoke. “This boy is a genius!”

Assistant: No, no – we don’t have Rarnaby Budge by Charles Dikkens with two ‘k’s, the well-known Dutch author, and perhaps to save time I should add right away that we don’t have Carnaby Fudge by Darles Tikkens, or Stickwick Stapers by Miles Pikkens with four ‘M’s and a silent ‘Q’; why don’t you try the chemist? Mr Pest: I did. They sent me here.

Northanger Abbey’s parody falls into two phases.1 In the first, spanning the first half of the novel, Austen tells the story of the heroine to the frequent accompaniment of brief witty asides contrasting her character, behavior, or experiences with the far more extravagant versions found in other novels, particularly sentimental ones. This method

By the time books were an industry in the eighteenth century, advance ‘blurbs’ were too, displayed at the front of a book. These had reached such effusive heights that in the opening pages of Shamela, his 1741 satirical riposte to Samuel Richardson’s smash hit Pamela, Henry Fielding writes a mock endorsement from ‘John Puff, Esq.’. Comic parody

Assistant: . . . I beg your pardon? Mr Pest: No, Edmund Wells. Assistant: . . . I think you’ll find Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield, sir. Mr Pest: No, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield with two ‘p’s. This is David Coperfield with one ‘p’ by Edmund Wells. Assistant: (a little sharply) Well, in that case we don’t have it. Mr Pest: