M*A*S*H: A Novel About Three Army Doctors

A comic novel is a work of fiction in which the writer not only seeks to amuse the reader, but also to make the reader think about controversial... issues, sometimes with subtlety and as part of a carefully woven narrative; sometimes, above all other considerations. It is more important to unmask the ideas or themes of a comic rather than just the simple plot. One of the most notable British comic novelists is P. G. Wodehouse, whose work follows on from that of Jerome K. Jerome and George & Weedon Grossmith's Diary of a Nobody. Saki's work is also significant although his career was cut short by World War I. A. G. Macdonell and G. K. Chesterton also produced flights of whimsy. Henry Fielding's The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, was a notable mid-18th century work in the genre. Other, more contemporary UK authors of this kind include Tom Sharpe, Kingsley Amis, Terry Pratchett, Richard Gordon, Rob Grant, Ian Ross, Douglas Adams, Evelyn Waugh, Nick Hornby, Eric Sykes, Leslie Thomas, Stephen Fry, Richard Asplin, Mike Harding, Joseph Connolly, and Ben Elton.
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Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film,... and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in Ancient Greece. In the Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was remarkably influenced by the political satire performed by the comic poets at the theaters. The theatrical genre can be simply described as a dramatic performance which pits two societies against each other in an amusing agon or conflict. Northrop Frye famously depicted these two opposing sides as a "Society of Youth" and a "Society of the Old", but this dichotomy is seldom described as an entirely satisfactory explanation.
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Drama in entertainment media is a genre involved usually with in the depiction of realistic characters and emotional themes. Dramatic themes may... include alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women and corruption put the characters in conflict with themselves, others, society and even natural phenomena. Drama is one of the most broad of genres and includes many subgenres such as as romantic drama, period drama, courtroom drama and crime drama.
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