Meaning of Menippean | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Of or relating to the Ancient Greek cynic parodist and polemicist Menippus (3rd century BCE).
2. Of or relating to a form of satire, usually in prose, which has a length and structure similar to a novel and is characterized by attacking mental attitudes instead of specific individuals.

Examples

“Without a doubt, the most unusual, the most conspicuous, and the most Menippean feature of the curious verbal landscape of Finnegans Wake is the ten 'thunderclaps.'”

“The most Menippean of these were written by John Harington of Kelston, who was first banished from court for his 1596 Metamorphosis of Ajax (a satire against the Earl of Leicester and a pun on 'a jakes,' the first flushing toilet in Britain, of Harington's own design), followed by An anatomie of the metamorphosed Ajax, and Ulysses upon Ajax.”

“Salman Rushdie's new work of 2017, his novel The Golden House, is not just a Menippean satire; it is a novel about Menippean satire.”

“However plausible such arguments, I should like respectfully to disagree. My position is closer to that of Dustin Griffin in his recent book—that the ludic is inherent in satire, especially the more menippean kind.”

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