A Book of Nonsense - Hardcover

The Book of Nonsense refers to a genre of literature, whether poetry or prose, that plays with conventions of language and logic through a careful balance of sense and non-sense elements. Its strict adherence to structure is balanced by semantic chaos and play with logic. Usually formal diction and tone are balanced with an inherent topsy-turvyness and absurdity. The effect of nonsense is often caused by an excess of meaning, rather than a lack of it.

The genre is most easily recognizable by the various techniques it uses to create nonsensical effects, such as neologism and faulty cause and effect. The forms nonsense writing can vary widely; it usually lives like a parasite within the host of another genre or type of literature, and as such, can appear as romantic verse, travel writing, short story, lyric poetry, natural history, journalism, alphabet, and recipes, to name a few.

For a text to be considered within the literary nonsense genre, it must have an abundance of nonsense techniques that tend to overshadow the host genre. If the text employs only occasional nonsense techniques, then it may not classify as literary nonsense, though it may have a nonsensical effect. Often (though not necessarily) humorous, nonsense has a kind of humor derived from a different source than a joke: nonsense is funny because it does not make sense, as opposed to most humor which is funny because it does. Sometimes this kind of writing is inaccurately referred to as "nonsense verse", which is inaccurate not because nonsense verse does not exist, but because nonsense can appear in non-verse forms. (Quote from wikipedia.org)

About the Author

Edward Lear (1812 - 1888)
Edward Lear (12 May 1812 - 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator and writer known for