[2800] in Humor
Dual-authored books
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (brians@MIT.EDU)
Tue May 4 20:56:07 1999
From: <brians@MIT.EDU>
To: humor@MIT.EDU
Date: Tue, 4 May 1999 20:52:52 -0400 (EDT)
From the Washington Post Invitational:
Report from Week 312, in which readers were asked to combine the
works of two authors and provide a suitable blurb.
"Machiavelli's The Little Prince" -- Antoine de
Saint-Exupery's classic children's tale as presented by
Machiavelli. The whimsy of human nature is embodied in many
delightful and intriguing characters, all of whom are executed.
(Erik Anderson, Tempe, Ariz.)
"Green Eggs and Hamlet" -- Would you kill him in
his bed? / Thrust a dagger through his head? / I would not, could
not, kill the King. / I could not do that evil thing. / I would
not wed this girl, you see. / Now get her to a nunnery. (Robin
Parry, Arlington)
"Fahrenheit 451 of the Vanities" -- An '80s yuppie is denied
books. He does not object, or even notice. (Mike Long, Burke)
"2001: A Space Iliad" -- The Hal 9000 computer wages an insane
10-year war against the Greeks after falling victim to the Y2K
bug. (Joseph Romm, Washington)
"Curious Georgefather" -- The monkey finally sticks his nose
where it don't belong. (Chuck Smith, Woodbridge)
"The Hunchback Also Rises" -- Hideously deformed fellow is
cloistered in bell tower by despicable clergymen. And that's the
good news ... (John Verba, Washington)
"The Maltese Faulkner" -- Is the black bird a tortured symbol of
Sam's struggles with race and family? Does it signify his decay
of soul along with the soul of the Old South? Is it merely a
crow, mocking his attempts to understand? Or is it worth a cool
mil? (Thad Humphries, Warrenton)
"The Silence of the Hams" -- In this endearing update of the
Seuss classic, young Sam-I-Am presses unconventional foodstuffs
on his friend, Hannibal, who turns the tables. (Mark Eckenwiler,
Washington)
"Portnoy's Choice": A man is forced to choose between his right
and left hand. (Tom Witte, Gaithersburg)
"Jane Eyre Jordan": Plucky English orphan girl survives hardships
to lead the Chicago Bulls to the NBA championship. (Dave
Pickering, Bowie)
"Nicholas and Alexandra Nickleby" -- Having narrowly escaped a
Bolshevik firing squad, the former czar and czarina join a troupe
of actors only to find that playing the Palace isn't as grand as
living in it. (Sandra Hull, Arlington)
"Catch-22 in the Rye" -- Holden learns that if you're insane,
you'll probably flunk out of prep school, but if you're flunking
out of prep school, you're probably not insane. (Brendan Beary,
Great Mills)
"Tarzan of the Grapes" -- The beleaguered Okies of the dust bowl
are saved by a strong and brave savage who swings from grapevine
to grapevine. (Joseph Romm, Washington)
"Where's Walden?" -- Alas, the challenge of locating Henry David
Thoreau in each richly detailed drawing loses its appeal when it
quickly becomes clear that he is always in the woods. (Sandra
Hull, Arlington)
"Looking for Mr. Godot" -- A young woman waits for Mr. Right to
enter her life. She has a looong wait. (Jonathan Paul, Garrett
Park)
"Rikki-Kon-Tiki-Tavi" -- Thor Heyerdahl recounts his attempt to
prove Rudyard Kipling's theory that the mongoose first came to
India on a raft from Polynesia. (David Laughton, Washington)
"As I Lay Winesburg, Ohio" -- William Faulkner and Sherwood
Anderson tell the unforgettable story of one man's ambitious
quest to nail every woman in his home town. (Grady Norris, New
Bern, N.C.)
