Salon, Paris

You are invited to

A Satirical Salon

With writer Philip Murray-Lawson

Sunday, April 7 at 6 pm

Hosted by Erin Byrne

“Parody, despite its humorous effect, is involved in the very serious business of pointing out what is to be avoided in a real world of pain and suffering.”

– Carter Kaplan Critical Synoptics 2000 Associatied University Presses

What do the following works of fiction have in common?

 

The Satyricon, Guargantua, Gullivers Travels, Candide, Alice in Wonderland, Moby Dick, Lolita, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy…

 

They are all examples of Menippean Satire.

 

In this talk, I will be giving a personal analysis of Menippean Satire. We will be discussing its classical origins, its main characteristics, its resurgence in postmodern literature and its aims which go beyond the purely literary to reach a philosophy of life itself.

philip bioPhilip MURRAY-LAWSON

 

Philip Murray-Lawson studied History in the University of Aberdeen. He lives in Paris where he runs Evolution-abc, a language consulting company.

His first works were translations of fin de siècle author Marcel Schwob. They appeared in Udolpho, the Gothic Society periodical, to which Philip also contributed non-fiction.

A collection of horror stories Heresies was published in 2000.

He is published in Vignettes &Postcards published by Shakespeare &Co and contributes works of Menippean satire to Emanations, an annual anthology published by International Authors.