Limericks, Philosophical and Literary

Justin Clemens

Limericks, Philosophical and Literary

2019, Limericks, Philosophical and Literary

Of all the grades of doggerel, the limerick is one of the lowest. Brief, risible, finicky, the limerick is a form whose greatest successes never rise above the mildly embarrassing. Populist and participatory if not precisely popular, the limerick first becomes a hit in Victorian England with Edward Lear’s books of nonsense. It spreads at once across the English-speaking world like a highly-contagious linguistic rash. Yet despite never having enjoyed unqualified approbation from critics or public, the form has its enthusiasts and eminent aficionados: there is no lack of literary luminaries who have lavished love on the limerick. The present book continues this queer minor tradition, presenting 77 limericks about writers and philosophers from St Thomas Aquinas to Simone Weil. Including a critical essay that delineates the limerick’s salient features, along with a dictionary that collects brief physiognomies of the subjects of the limericks, this book dares to descend into the maelstrom of mediocrity and return, arms overflowing with mixed metaphors and microplastics. Available from a range of distributors, including: https://www.manic.com.au/limericks-philosophical-and-literary.html

Limericks, Philosophical & Literary Justin Clemens In this book you’ll find all sorts of pricks Justified in the form of lim’ricks, Overwrought and absurd Susurrations of words That will piss off both highbrows and hicks. Of all the grades of doggerel, the limerick is one of the lowest. Brief, risible, finicky, the limerick is a form whose greatest successes never rise above the mildly embarrassing. Populist and participatory if not precisely popular, the limerick first becomes a hit in Victorian England with Edward Lear’s books of nonsense. It spreads at once across the English-speaking world like a highly-contagious linguistic rash. Yet despite never having enjoyed unqualified approbation from critics or public, the form has its enthusiasts and eminent aficionados: there is no lack of literary luminaries who have lavished love on the limerick. The present book continues this queer minor tradition, presenting seventy-seven limericks about writers and philosophers from St Thomas Aquinas to Simone Weil. Including a critical essay that delineates the limerick’s salient features, along with a dictionary that collects brief physiognomies of the subjects of the limericks, this book dares to descend into the maelstrom of mediocrity and to return, arms overflowing with mixed metaphors and microplastics. isbn: 978-1-922099-36-5 Surpllus #30

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