[sanclemente99]

A recent post commented something to the effect that humor and fantasy don't mix. I've been considering this point, and would like to throw it open to the learned audience here.

My 2 cents worth (which is 1 cent in 1970 dollars) is that humor could work in a fantasy world, but it would require a frame of reference for the jokes. Take Bored Of The Rings, a clever sendup of Tolkien's works. I'd be interested to get the opinion of someone who read Bored without ever reading Lord, but I imagine most of the jokes would fall flat because that reader would not understand the context of the humor. A character called Dildo, with companions Spam, Moxie, and Pepsi might be odd, but wouldn't be funny. Further, if you have never heard of Moxie (from the US northeast), naming two characters after competing brands of colas would not mean anything.

The Yogi Berra line "When you get to a fork in the road take it" is funny, but when you learn that it was seriously said when giving driving directions to his house, it becomes even funnier.

Thoughts?

[Excalibur]

Hello, Terry Pratchett exists y'know. The point is hence self-evident.

[wastra]

It was my comment that said fantasy and humor didn't mix. It was taken a bit out of context, as it was tongue-in-cheek when written.

I COULD mix very well, but I have yet to read any fatasy work in which attempted humor is even mildly more entertaining than a Bob Sagett monologue. It generally comes off as being quite childish 'cuteness' rather than humor.

[FitzChivalry]

Everything can work, it depends on how good the author is in making it work.
Humor is such a subjective thing that a discussion about the humor of different books is futile to begin with, but for the record i don't find Pratchett's slapstick and pun humor funny but i did find Weid&Hickman's comic reliefs pretty funny, Tas, Fizban/Zifnab and Simkin.

[Cadfael]

Alan Dean Foster's Spellsinger series is funny, it manages to do this without ridiculing the genre. I have only read one Pratchet book... and as far as I was concerned he was 'extracting the urine'. Maybe his later books are different.

JV Jones... her trilogy The Book of Words, whilst being a 'serious' fantasy story... does have an element of humour with her Bodger and Griff characters. It is like we take a commercial break from the serious stuff... when these two jokers are centre-stage.

I have read 'Bored of the Rings', and loved it... the section outside the gates where Goodgulp(sp?) says "If anyone is not ready for the battle, they may leave now"... and the resulting dust cloud takes weeks to disappear... was ohhh sooo funneeee.

[k4085]

I think Jack Vance uses humor well in his novels like Cugel's Saga. He manages to create humor without creating "goofy" characters or making stupid jokes. The humor lies in Cugel's predicaments which are often funny.

In his other novels like his Lyonesse trilogy, the humor is more subtle. The humor is there, but can be missed if you "blink an eye" (as quoted by Anne Macffrey). He doesn't sacrifice the story in any way by trying to instill humor into his novels.

[BoxingGriffin]

I was recently finishing up George R.R. Martin's "Clash of Kings", and my husband noted that I had never laughed out loud while reading a book until I picked up this new series. I wondered why I never laugh at other fantasy novels...

Humor doesn't have to be forced - I find the most amusing lines in any book - fantasy or no - to be the subtle ones that define a character as human. We all know what its like to be human so we know where its coming from. This is why I laugh out loud at Martin...his characters seem very real to me, and their very human and very imperfect reactions to some situations strike me as funny.

You don't need to make "jokes" to incorporate humor into a book.

[Cadfael]

BoxingGriffin... I agree... Martin has a very good grasp of 'irony', which is unusual for an American http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

*JOKING! so put the daggers down!*

[Cygnus]

I personally feel that fantasy with out at least a touch of humor is not worth the read. Of course there are exceptions out there, but I like to laugh while enjoying a good story. I need a little comic relief every once in a while.. especially with the heavy authors like Martin and Goodkind. I don't like humor to dominate the story though. For example, though I like Robert Asprin's Myth series I find those books a little over the top.

It's been a long time since I've read the early WoT books, but from what I remember they had a lot of heavy issues but little sucessful (or even attempted humor). This may be a prejudiced recollection, but it was part of the reason the series was unappealing to me. It had that feeling of taking itself way too seriously (AKA boring!!).

I just finished Taltos by Steven Brust and that is an author that can use humor well. It made me laugh out loud until I had tears running down my face! That's one book I'm glad I was reading in the privacy of my own home!

[k4085]

Here is an example of the subtle humor used by Jack Vance from one of his novels as a prophesizer, motivated by avarice, states his fees:

For the twenty terces, I phrase the answer in clear and actionable language; for ten I use the language of cant which occassionally admits of ambiguity; for five I speak a parable which you must interpret as you will; for once terce, I babble in an unknown language.

The humor here can be missed if the reader is a little distracted by other things.