and request the excommunication of the population responsible for the bestiole “devilish work” (64). Next, the (62) describes the prosecution, “Plaidoyer des habitans,” inhabitants’ (63) and (63) by saying they victimization, “humble faith,” “unimpeachable honesty” are “too trepid of this court to let anything but the clear fountain of truth flow from their mouths” (63). The overstatement used in these quotations satirizes the prosecution. The court moves on to accuse the woodworms by overstating their natural act of eating wood by describing with exclamation the incident in which the throne only Besancon’s bishop, Hugo, lowers himself onto to fall through the malevolent invaders! And how undermined wood: “Oh malevolent day! Oh the Bishop fell being hurled against his will into a state of (64). This quotation … imbecility” only adds to the criticism for the prosecution by parodying the fall. In describing the Bishop’s inhabitants examination of the crime scene, the prosecution says they the leg that discovered “in had tumbled down like the walls of Jericho a vile and unnatural infestation of woodworm” (64) and that the criminals had and darkly gone about their devlish work, [and] so devoured “secretly the leg that the Bishop did fall from the heavens of light into the darkness of (64). … imbecility” Besides overstatement, there is also ironic incongruity when the infestation woodworm’s is described as because woodworms do naturally infest wood. By the end of the “unnatural,” prosecution of the woodworms who end up being documented trial, “the villager’s successful excommunicated is ironically undercut by the conclusion in which the closing words have … … been eaten by the (Finney 63). In this chapter Barnes satirizes documented history. woodworm” Despite the the written version of history being the one read, inhabitants’ – winning party’s – they are portrayed as overly absurd in their attack on the woodworms. Daniel Candel states, “A [of often criticizes the one-way presentation of history [and History the World in 10 ½ Chapters] that] History is presented as being on the side of the winners and thus not taking cognizance …
and request the excommunication of the bestiole population responsible for the “devilish work” (64). Next, the prosecution, “Plaidoyer des habitans,” (62) describes the inhabitants’ victimization, “humble faith,” (63) and “unimpeachable honesty” (63) by saying they are “too trepid of this court to let anything but the clear fountain of truth flow from their mouths” (63). The overstatement used in these quotations satirizes the prosecution. The court moves on to accuse the woodworms by overstating their natural act of eating wood by describing with exclamation the incident in which Besancon’s bishop, Hugo, lowers himself onto the throne only to fall through the undermined wood: “Oh malevolent day! Oh malevolent invaders! And how the Bishop fell … being hurled against his will into a state of imbecility” (64). This quotation only adds to the criticism for the prosecution by parodying the Bishop’s fall. In describing the inhabitants examination of the crime scene, the prosecution says they discovered “in the leg that had tumbled down like the walls of Jericho a vile and unnatural infestation of woodworm” (64) and that the criminals had “secretly and darkly gone about their devlish work, [and] so devoured the leg that the Bishop did fall … from the heavens of light into the darkness of imbecility” (64). Besides overstatement, there is also ironic incongruity when the woodworm’s infestation is described as “unnatural,” because woodworms do naturally infest wood. By the end of the documented trial, “the villager’s successful prosecution of the woodworms who end up being excommunicated … is ironically undercut by the conclusion in which the closing words … have been eaten by the woodworm” (Finney 63). In this chapter Barnes satirizes documented history. Despite the inhabitants’ – the winning party’s – written version of history being the one read, they are portrayed as overly absurd in their attack on the woodworms. Daniel Candel states, “A History [of the World in 10 ½ Chapters] often criticizes the one-way presentation of history [and that] History is presented … as being on the side of the winners and thus not taking cognizance