Coups de griffe, prises de bec

Coups de griffe, prises de bec, la satire dans la presse des années trente, les Impressions Nouvelles, 2018, under the direction of Amélie Chabrier and Marie-Astrid Charlier

Coups de griffe, prises de bec is presented as a beautiful book on satire, textual and visual, in the French-speaking press of the thirties, set in a long history of laughter in the press, from the small press of the nineteenth century to the present day. The aim is to reflect on the particularity of laughter in the 1930s: what was laughed about in this inter-war period? Who in particular? In what ways?

The economic crisis of 1929, the rise of fascism, homophobia, misogyny, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, are constants in the media discourse of the time, from the mainstream press to political and literary weeklies and satirical sheets. But can we laugh at everything? And can we laugh at everything in this period of crisis (economic, social, moral, ideological)? Which targets were particularly targeted and are we seeing the emergence of “scapegoats”? What boundaries can be drawn between humour, satire and insult? Are there dividing lines between left-wing and right-wing satire, or even extreme right-wing satire?

These questions obviously resonate with the darkest hours of our news. Just think of the terrorist attacks suffered by Charlie Hebdo in January 2015 and the multiple polemics that involve contemporary satirists, from TV shows to the Guignols de l’infos, as well as one-(wo)man-shows and the internet.

Read an extract on the website of the editor Les Impressions Nouvelles.