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poliphiloIn order to parody a work of art you have to feel your way inside it. You need to align yourself with the state of mind of the original creator and speak from their position- while wearing the cap and bells. I've been enjoying Neil Innes' very accurate cod-Beatles songs- the best of which might pass as the real thing at a blind tasting. They are obviously a work of love...
Can you effectively parody a thing you really, really hate? I doubt it. Max Beerbohm supposedly hated Kipling but his Kipling parody, P.C. X 36- in which Santa Claus gets roughed up by a cockney policeman- who takes him for an enemy airman- while the narrator cavorts on the sidelines revelling in the brutality- is so good I suspect that Kipling wasn't so much an object of detestation to him as a guilty pleasure.
P.C. X 36 can be found entire on Wikisource, along with all the other fiendishly clever parodies of contemporary writers that make up the collection called A Christmas Garland.
Can you effectively parody a thing you really, really hate? I doubt it. Max Beerbohm supposedly hated Kipling but his Kipling parody, P.C. X 36- in which Santa Claus gets roughed up by a cockney policeman- who takes him for an enemy airman- while the narrator cavorts on the sidelines revelling in the brutality- is so good I suspect that Kipling wasn't so much an object of detestation to him as a guilty pleasure.
P.C. X 36 can be found entire on Wikisource, along with all the other fiendishly clever parodies of contemporary writers that make up the collection called A Christmas Garland.
