It may be conjectured that, though great serious literature survives, humor and propaganda are cumulative arts, like mathematics, in which each age improves on the techniques of its predecessors. Hence the indulgence needed when reading Shakespeare’s or Dickens’ humor. If this is so, then the Provincial Letters are some centuries ahead of their time. The brevity, the timing, the always potent combination of irony and moral indignation are as effective as on the day of printing.
