Aaron Matz on Satire's Decline and Climate Change's Ironic Grip on Literature
In the March 26, 2026 issue of The New York Review, Aaron Matz, a professor from Scripps College, discussed Dan Sperrin's book, *State of Ridicule*. Matz argues that since the late 1700s, the power of literary political satire has diminished, largely due to the complex nature of government issues and the reduced impact of satire amidst mass culture. Nowadays, satire is more alive on TV and online, highlighted by works like Armando Iannucci's *Veep* and *The Death of Stalin*. Matz, who has written *Satire in an Age of Realism* (2010) and *The Novel and the Problem of New Life* (2021), exchanged emails with Willa Glickman about how climate change ironically influences literature, citing modern satirical pieces like Paul Beatty's *The Sellout* and Vincenzo Latronico's *Perfection* (2022).
Key facts
- Aaron Matz reviewed Dan Sperrin's State of Ridicule in The New York Review's March 26, 2026 issue.
- Matz argues literary political satire declined since the late eighteenth century due to state complexity and mass culture.
- Contemporary satire excels on TV/internet, e.g., Armando Iannucci's Veep and The Death of Stalin.
- Matz is a professor at Scripps College and author of Satire in an Age of Realism (2010) and The Novel and the Problem of New Life (2021).
- Matz's next book explores how climate change creates a rueful irony toward recent art and literature.
- He cites David Wallace-Wells's 2019 statement that climate would become a basis for storytelling.
- Matz mentions contemporary literary satires like Paul Beatty's The Sellout and Vincenzo Latronico's Perfection.
- The interview was conducted by Willa Glickman of The New York Review.
Entities
Artists
- Aaron Matz
- Dan Sperrin
- Juvenal
- Émile Zola
- Amitav Ghosh
- Paul Beatty
- Vincenzo Latronico
- Armando Iannucci
- Flaubert
- Céline
- Rabelais
- Hardy
- Lawrence
- Woolf
- Lessing
- Huysmans
- Beckett
- Joyce
- David Wallace-Wells
- Willa Glickman
Institutions
- Scripps College
- The New York Review