War, Memory, and the Politics of Humor: The Canard Enchaine and World War I
Allen Douglas
Abstract
This book features carnage and cannibalism, gender and cross-dressing, drunks and heroes, militarism and memory, all set against the background of World War I France. The book shows how a new satiric weekly, the Canard Enchaîné, exploited these topics and others to become one of France's most influential voices of reaction to the Great War. The Canard, still published today, is France's leading satiric newspaper and the most successful periodical of the twentieth century, and this book colorfully illuminates the mechanisms of its unique style. Following the Canardfrom its birth in 1915 to the ... More
This book features carnage and cannibalism, gender and cross-dressing, drunks and heroes, militarism and memory, all set against the background of World War I France. The book shows how a new satiric weekly, the Canard Enchaîné, exploited these topics and others to become one of France's most influential voices of reaction to the Great War. The Canard, still published today, is France's leading satiric newspaper and the most successful periodical of the twentieth century, and this book colorfully illuminates the mechanisms of its unique style. Following the Canardfrom its birth in 1915 to the eve of the Great Depression, the narrative reveals a heady mix of word play, word games, and cartoons. Over the years the journal—generally leftist, specifically antimilitarist and anti-imperialist—aimed its shots in all directions, using some stereotypes the twenty-first century might find unacceptable. But this book calls its humor an affirmation of life, and as such the most effective antidote to war.
Keywords:
carnage,
cannibalism,
cross-dressing,
militarism,
World War I,
France,
Canard Enchaîné,
Great War,
satire,
cartoons
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2002 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780520228764 |
Published to California Scholarship Online: March 2012 |
DOI:10.1525/california/9780520228764.001.0001 |