2013-07-29
Explanation
The comic offers a humorous public service announcement for students writing English class essays. The setup reads: "Next time you need a quotation for an English class essay, I've got you covered." Below, on a yellow note card, appears the quote: "Fuck literature." -- Ernest Hemingway. A citation is provided at the bottom: "Ernest Hemingway Selected Letters 1917-1961, pg 113."
The joke works on multiple levels. First, there is the sheer absurdity of using such a vulgar, anti-literary quote in an English class essay -- the very setting where literature is meant to be celebrated and analyzed. Second, the humor is amplified by the fact that the quote is attributed to Ernest Hemingway, one of the most celebrated literary figures of the 20th century. Having one of literature's greatest authors dismissing his own field with profanity is inherently funny and ironic.
What makes this joke even better is that it is plausibly real. Hemingway was famously blunt, irreverent, and given to profanity in his personal correspondence. His collected letters do contain many candid and sometimes crude remarks about writing, other authors, and the literary establishment. Whether or not this specific quote is genuine, it is entirely in character for Hemingway, which is what makes the joke land so well.
The votey shows a student reading a book with the thought: "Oh my God. Reading boring books has finally paid off." This captures the delight of a student who has slogged through volumes of literary correspondence and finally found the perfect, subversive quote to drop into an essay -- the rare moment when tedious academic reading yields something genuinely useful (or at least entertaining).