Customer Reviews

Holy Tango of Literature

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

You must have this book. To wit, a sample of the brilliance within:

Skinny Domicile
by Emily Dickinson
(actually by Francis Heaney, who wrote poems whose titles are anagrams of canonical poets' names; he used the poets' styles, meters, et al)

I have a skinny Domicile-
Its Door is very narrow.
'Twill keep-I hope-the Reaper out-
His Scythe-and Bones-and Marrow.

Since Death is not a portly Chap,
The Entrance must be thin-
So-when my Final Moment comes-
He cannot wriggle in.

That's why I don't go out that much-
I can't fit through that Portal.
How dumb-to waste my Social Life
On Plans to be-immortal-

Mr. Heaney is a true wordsmith and a _really_ funny one at that. The perfect present for anyone who has ever had to read a sonnet. It's true that I worked with this man at Modern Humorist, but he has added tons of new work (including forms other than poetry) that I haven't seen yet, and I can't wait to get my copy.

This is wonderful stuff by a true comic polymath. Just read "Likable Wilma" by William Blake, which begins, "Wilma, Wilma, in thy blouse, Red-haired prehistoric spouse" , and you'll know what I mean. I have a conflict of interest here (I drew the pictures) but I laughed hard at Francis Heaney's work before I got tangled up with it, when I first saw it in Mirth of a Nation. Buy The Holy Tango today! The children of America should be committing it to memory!

This expertly-crafted and flawlessly erudite effort would be well worth one's attention as a jaw-droppingly-impressive literary stunt, even if it weren't that funny. The fact that it is, on top of everything else, hilarious makes it absolutely irresistible.

It takes a certain amount of talent to write a good pastiche, particularly, I think, of poetry. And it takes a certain degree of twisted brilliance to come up with the idea of writing parodies based on anagrams of the author's names. But it takes nothing more than genius to capture each author's style absolutely dead on, weave in a host of clever pop culture references, and produce something that pleases the frontal lobes of the brain even as it mounts an all-out tickle war on the funnybone. This book is a work of absolute freakin' genius.

I should note, by the way, that you really don't have to be a lit geek to enjoy this. I hardly consider myself a poetry connoisseur, but I recognized the great majority of the pieces being parodied. Heaney seems to have stuck to the author's most famous works, many of which are familiar from high school English classes. And even the ones whose source I didn't recognize entertained me. Which, when you think about it, is all the more impressive.

1 The War Horses of Literature get saddled, bridled, and pranced around the Big Top with about as much reverence as buffoonery. Heaney can parody as many people as Las Vegas superstar Danny Gans, and there's no 2-drink minimum or $100 ticket that's probably sold out anyway since you didn't book in advance.
2 The book's design: It's been "anagrammed" as well: this is your high school English book, torn apart and reassembled. The book is brimming with liberally applied wit.
3 Heaney slaps his anagramatic skill on everything from the title ("Holy Tango" is "anthology," rearranged) to "The Note About the Typeface" ("Hey, a beat poet, a cute font"). This must be what he does at parties: shakes hands, learns your name, and then invents anagrams for you while sipping absinthe martinis.
4 Richard Thompson's illustrations. So now the book has a second twist like that ride on the midway that first has you spinning, and then has you dipping up and down.
5 Stamps! A full page of colorful stamps.
6 The small pleasure in seeing Maya Angelou and Sylvia Plath receive a little comeuppance.
7 The soon-to-be-immortal parody of Euripides, rearranged as "I Reuse Dip," a classical treatment of the Seinfeld episode where George dips twice in the humus.
8 The already classic "Hairball King" by the regrettably immortal Kahlil Gibran, in which a tabby is instructed in the ways of the humans.
9 Positive proof that laughter's one of the nobler callings, higher powers, and loftier things in life. You come away from this book saying, "Sheesh, I wish I were that smart," but using your own words.
10 On the other hand, you think, "Why bother." You can just enjoy this book and keep on being your own merry self.

Francis Heany hits the nail on the head with each of these brilliantly conceived bits. He has a chameleon-like flair for clicking into the rhythm, style and voice of each writer. It's just uncanny. Also, the stories he explores based on the anagramed writers' names are a riot.

We had relatives visiting, and my husband's niece was in tears from laughing so hard at Robert Frost/"BrR, Footrest". Who else would come up with a surreal combination of "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" and the opening credits of "The Dick van Dyke Show"? Absolutely brilliant stuff.

Looking for a great gift for your friends who love a good juxtaposition of classic literature and popular culture? "Holy Tango" of Literature should be on your shopping list!

A lovely little book that has proven to be a wonderful introduction to classical poetry in our homeschooling family.

This book is incredibly clever and funny, especially if you were an English major or otherwise exposed to the old "canon." His parodies of writers are marvelous, including the titles which include anagrams of the names. Put it aside for a few months and laugh again when you reread it.

This collection of parodies inspired by anagrams of the authors' names is absolutely hilarious, furiously witty, and truly amazing in its technical virtuosity. Heaney's ability to mimic the poetic styles of the writers is stunning, and the fertility of his comic imagination seems to have no limits.

My favorite: A reworking of Geoffrey Chaucer as a narrator of the rise of Starbucks Coffee!