Parody

A parody is an imitation of a serious author or literary work designed for comic effect or ridicule. A parody humorously reveals the peculiarities or excesses of the original work. It often takes a serious style of writing and uses it for a trivial subject. A parody sometimes ridicules its subject as a typical example of absurd or sentimental attitudes.

It may also implicitly criticize the ideas or ideals of a given age or society. Parodies can be written in verse or prose, and they may take the form of plays. Their humorous effect depends largely on the reader's knowledge of the style or particular work being ridiculed. Some parodies have achieved the status of independent works of art, and they have 'become better known than the works they intended to ridicule. A notable example is Henry Fielding's novel Joseph Andrews (1742), which is more famous than the work it parodied, Samuel Richardson's novel Pamela (1740).

The earliest surviving literary parody is Battle of the Frogs and Mice, a mock-heroic Greek poem in the style of Homer. The Athenian playwright Aristophanes deftly parodied his contemporary poets and dramatists. Miguel de Cervantes' 17th-century masterpiece Don Quixote is partly a parody of medieval romances. In modern times the English author Max Beerbohm was a master of parodies in prose. Noted 20th-century American parodists include Robert Benchley, Ogden Nash, S. J. Perelman, and E. B. White.