The Miraculous Barber

Satire and irony are harder than they look. Done well, like in Anatole France's books, the effects seem effortless. The Miraculous Barber by 20th century French author Marcel Ayme is an example of a more thudding, juvenile kind of satire. The characters are cutouts consisting of one or two attributes, which is why there are so many of them. The bawdy humor must have been funny to someone, sometime, but has aged poorly.