1. Menippean Satire Satire in prose, not in verse; brings together many discordant elements; similar in structure to a novel; named after Greek philosopher Menippus (3 rd -cent. BC) who wrote several such satires that are now lost; more modern examples are Rabelais’ Gargantua and Pantagruel (1564) and Voltaire’s Candide (1759)

2. Poe & Satire Poe changes direction after 1831 and adventurously tries hand at short stories; first project is for ambitious frame-tale collection called Tales of the Folio Club, planned over several years (1832 – 1836) and to have included between 11 and 17 satirical tales narrated by different, caricatural characters gathered at dinner party these characters were to criticize and assess one another’s tales, with “loser” having to host next dinner party, etc. (nothing came of this satirical frame-tale project and several of tales were published separately in magazines of the time) Poe’s next collection of prose pieces, Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, published in late 1839 but did not include frame-tale commentary (this is couple of years after Pym is written) many tales that were to be included in Folio Club collection are satirical imitations and exaggerations of styles of early 19 th -cent. writers, most now forgotten; several also present (veiled) criticism of politics, society, economy, etc. in Jacksonian U.S.A.

3. Possibility Are satirical aspects prominent in Poe’s only novel, Pym, suggesting that plans for a satirical collection of prose pieces, or a longer, semi-unified narrative in the Menippean tradition were never fully abandoned?