Ross novel: ‘Humour can puncture pomposity. Which is why pompous people don’t like it’ – The Irish Times
Author Paul Howard discusses his career as a satirist and the evolution of his Ross O’Carroll-Kelly series. He reflects on his childhood experience moving from England to Ireland and how humor serves as a tool to address social pomposity.
Why it matters
It provides insight into the role of satire in navigating national identity and class barriers within Irish society.
P aul Howard, who has done so much to break down the barriers of class with his Ross O’Carroll-Kelly books, plays and columns, is now uniting Ireland with his novel A Nation Once Again. Howard laughs at this idea and echoes Peter Cook’s ironic admiration for “those wonderful Berlin cabarets which did so much to stop the rise of Hitler and prevent the outbreak of the second World War”.
He is not convinced his very funny writing makes any difference at all. We are in Dublin’s Brooks Hotel discussing the evolution of his career as one of Ireland’s best literary satirists. It probably has roots in his “confused” sense of identity, he says.
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