Philosophy
Yes, there is social commentary in current newspaper cartoons, but nothing like Archy and Mehitabel...distinct characters.
Wikipedia...
Archy and Mehitabel (styled as archy and mehitabel) is the title of a series of newspaper columns written by Don Marquis beginning in 1916. Written as fictional social commentary and intended as a space-filler to allow Marquis to meet the challenge of writing a daily newspaper column six days a week, archy and mehitabel is Marquis' most famous work. Collections of these stories are still sold in print today. The published editions of these stories were originally illustrated by George Herriman, the creator and illustrator of Krazy Kat.
History
In 1916, Marquis introduced Archy, a fictional cockroach, into his daily newspaper column at The New York Evening Sun. Archy (whose name was always written in lower case in the book titles, but was upper case when Marquis would write about him in narrative form) was a cockroach who had been a free verse poet in a previous life, and took to writing stories and poems on an old typewriter at the newspaper office when everyone in the building had left. Archy would climb up onto the typewriter and hurl himself at the keys, laboriously typing out stories of the daily challenges and travails of a cockroach. Archy's best friend was Mehitabel, an alley cat. The two of them shared a series of day-to-day adventures that made satiric commentary on daily life in the city during the 1910s and 1920s.
Because he was a cockroach, Archy was unable to operate the shift key on the typewriter (he jumped on each key to type; since using shift requires two keys to be pressed simultaneously, he physically could not use capitals), and so all of his verse was written without capitalization or punctuation. (Writing in his own persona, though, Marquis always used correct capitalization and punctuation. As E. B. White wrote in his introduction to The Lives and Times of Archy and Mehitabel, it would be incorrect to conclude that, "because Don Marquis's cockroach was incapable of operating the shift key of a typewriter, nobody else could operate it.")
There was at least one point in which Archy happened to jump onto the shift lock key—a chapter titled Capitals at Last (styled as CAPITALS AT LAST).
Pete the Pup is another character. Pete is a Boston Bull Terrier with a passion for life and devotion to his "master". Like Marquis' other animal characters, Pete types his poetry at night on the author’s typewriter (seldom capitalizing or using punctuation). Unlike many of the other characters' contributions, Pete writes about his uncomplicated life without strong political or social references.
by
Don Marquis
ISBN-10: 014303975X
ISBN-13: 978-0143039754
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Philosophy
Archy and Mehitabel...social commentary early 20th Century style
Yes, there is social commentary in current newspaper cartoons, but nothing like Archy and Mehitabel...distinct characters.
Wikipedia...
Archy and Mehitabel (styled as archy and mehitabel) is the title of a series of newspaper columns written by Don Marquis beginning in 1916. Written as fictional social commentary and intended as a space-filler to allow Marquis to meet the challenge of writing a daily newspaper column six days a week, archy and mehitabel is Marquis' most famous work. Collections of these stories are still sold in print today. The published editions of these stories were originally illustrated by George Herriman, the creator and illustrator of Krazy Kat.
History
In 1916, Marquis introduced Archy, a fictional cockroach, into his daily newspaper column at The New York Evening Sun. Archy (whose name was always written in lower case in the book titles, but was upper case when Marquis would write about him in narrative form) was a cockroach who had been a free verse poet in a previous life, and took to writing stories and poems on an old typewriter at the newspaper office when everyone in the building had left. Archy would climb up onto the typewriter and hurl himself at the keys, laboriously typing out stories of the daily challenges and travails of a cockroach. Archy's best friend was Mehitabel, an alley cat. The two of them shared a series of day-to-day adventures that made satiric commentary on daily life in the city during the 1910s and 1920s.
Because he was a cockroach, Archy was unable to operate the shift key on the typewriter (he jumped on each key to type; since using shift requires two keys to be pressed simultaneously, he physically could not use capitals), and so all of his verse was written without capitalization or punctuation. (Writing in his own persona, though, Marquis always used correct capitalization and punctuation. As E. B. White wrote in his introduction to The Lives and Times of Archy and Mehitabel, it would be incorrect to conclude that, "because Don Marquis's cockroach was incapable of operating the shift key of a typewriter, nobody else could operate it.")
There was at least one point in which Archy happened to jump onto the shift lock key—a chapter titled Capitals at Last (styled as CAPITALS AT LAST).
Pete the Pup is another character. Pete is a Boston Bull Terrier with a passion for life and devotion to his "master". Like Marquis' other animal characters, Pete types his poetry at night on the author’s typewriter (seldom capitalizing or using punctuation). Unlike many of the other characters' contributions, Pete writes about his uncomplicated life without strong political or social references.
The Annotated Archy and Mehitabel
by
Don Marquis
ISBN-10: 014303975X
ISBN-13: 978-0143039754
- Whatdayathink?
I try not to make this blog about me, but today I'm going to indulge a bit and ask your opinion on something. I started this blog at the time I was writing a manuscript for a pop ethics/politics book designed to respond to the then common notion...
- The Gender Genie, Artificial Intelligence, And Irony
I've been thinking about writing something on definitions of artificial intelligence since Christmas when my niece received a "toy" called 20Q. If you have not seen it, it is stunning. Seriously, check it out, it IS that weird. About the size of a...
- Pinocchio's Reality
"Pinocchio's Real Roots Mapped" New research reveals the real-life inspirations behind the fictional Pinocchio. by Rossella Lorenzi July 8th, 2011 Discovery News The tale of the wooden puppet Pinocchio created by a carpenter in Florence may arguably...
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"Mining threatens Afghanistan's Buddhist treasures" Aynak, one of country's richest historical sites, faces destruction as Chinese create world's largest opencast copper mine by Jon Boone November 15th, 2010 guardian.co.uk For almost 2,000...
- Going, Going, Gone--typewriters?
Berkeley Typewriter co-owner Jesse Banuelos is emphatic that, appearances to the contrary, the store’s floor-to-ceiling shelves of semi-disassembled typewriters are not junk. Components for these old machines are hard to come by, so the word “hoarding”...