Book description
Snark - noun
Also snarky (adj.) and snarkily (adv.)
But just what is snark?
We all think we recognize snark when we see it - it’s a tone of
teasing, snide, undermining abuse, nasty and knowing, that’s spreading
through the media. Its practitioners think it’s funny, but it isn’t big
and it certainly isn’t clever. So where did it all go wrong? What
happened to the black comedy, the clever irony and the pinpoint satire
we once admired and how did they turn into a charmless and witless way
of speaking?
Inspired by Lewis Carroll, the New Yorker critic and bestselling author
David Denby takes on the snarkers. In this sharp and witty polemic, he
identifies the nine principles of snark and traces its history from its
invention as personal insult in the drinking clubs of ancient Athens,
through such diverse proponents as Alexander Pope, Private Eye and Tom
Wolfe to its arrival in the age of the Internet, where it has become the
sole purpose and style of many media, political and celebrity Web sites.
By highlighting what has gone wrong in America, Denby gives us a
manifesto for a snark-free way of communicating in the future.
'Snark is an important, defining work and an extremely satisfying read
as well' John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Read more about snark at http://snarkbook. blogspot. com David Denby
is a film critic for the New Yorker
, and author of Great Books
. He is not a humorless kill-joy, quite the opposite. He loves wit,
righteous indignation and genuine satire. He cherishes spoof, lampoon
and burlesque. He gives brilliant and hilarious examples of satire and
he encourages the dangerous and challenging basis of humour. His style
is cool and clever -- and, in dissecting the history and philosophy of
snark, he proves he is a decent man with a mission.
