Cynic Satire

A Menippean-Cynic-satire is a device for producing a specific kind of effect on the reader. Menippean satire is an active form, not a passive any work that produces the effect of a Menippean satire is a Menippean satire. It is the embodiment of a Cynic - of a Diogenes or a Menippus or a Lucian or a Rabelais. For centuries, it has frustrated the best efforts of critics to define it. Descriptive criteria (such as 'a mixture of verse and prose') invariably fail because the form is determinedly fluid and polymorphous, and it shifts its mode of attack with every change in culture or perception. Menippists plagiarize with abandon, from anyone and any period and culture. McLuhan has found a new and potent method of coming to grips with the satires by examining their interaction with the the satire does what a Cynic would, were he or she physically present. This approach accounts for every shift in technique, from the most ancient (Homer composed one, the Margites) to tomorrow afternoon, and also opens the discussion of Menippism in any and all media other than literaturea