Crome Yellow

In literature, satire refers to texts that use humor to criticize human faults or foibles. Satire is typically referred to as a literary mode rather than a specific genre or style of writing; the term mode designates a broad but unspecified mood or method of writing (other examples include the comic mode or the ironic mode). All satiric literature, regardless of genre, is comprised of two basic elements: criticism and humor. However, these two elements are not always equally balanced, and different “balances” are rooted in different literary satiric traditions. Satire that is harsher or angrier in its tone is called Juvenalian satire, after the Roman poet Juvenal, and satire that is more comic and lighthearted in tone is called Horatian satire, after the Roman poet Horace. Satire that mixes different genres and styles and attacks general mental attitudes rather than individual people is often referred to as Menippean satire, after the Greek Cynic and satirist Menippus. For much of classical, medieval, and early modern literary history, satire was considered a mode that could be properly expressed only through poetry: acceptable verse forms for satiric poetry included Latin hexameter, Italian terza rima, and the English heroic couplet. But by the 18th century, English writers were beginning to create lengthy satirical prose texts that were extremely popular with readers. Indeed, scholars often consider the 18th century in England to be a golden age of satire.

However, both narrative and visual satire persisted well into the 20th century, albeit in response to a very different political and cultural landscape than writers like Fielding and Sterne so enthusiastically mocked. Nineteenth-century English satire was generally more polite and playful than the more vicious Augustan satire of the previous century: this was primarily to appeal to an expanded, largely middle-class readership. But by the time Crome Yellow was published, satire had changed once again and focused on bitterly criticizing the failures of 19th-century British society. After the brutal Victorian class system began to slowly collapse, England’s colonies began to successfully revolt, and a generation of young men died in World War I, many people recognized that these cataclysmic events were the responsibility of an older generation whose feet were not grounded in the realities of 20th-century life. They began to embrace new, progressive ideas about race, gender, class, and art, and writers of satire used this rift between the old and the new to urge the abandonment of antiquated ideas and social structures. However, Huxley—who is often considered less optimistic than other young novelists of his time—satirized both the fiascos and defeats of Victorian society and the relative optimism of new ideas and movements. In other words, Huxley’s satirical novels question the redemptive potential of both tradition and progress and ultimately suggest that modern life is defined by confusion, disorientation, and the disappearance of shared values systems.