Lionel Shriver and the Resistance to Satire

Of all the literary genres, satire is the most vexatious. Like Lionel Shriver herself, it is deliberately provocative. Likewise, it is adept at making enemies: Those with sensitive hides seem to resent having them flayed. In an age of media chaos, satire is easily confused with realism, and the satirist finds his best caricatures preempted by events. But satire nonetheless remains a substantial art form with a rich past reaching back to antiquity. A critic worth his salt will establish the grounds for judging such a work.