With the year coming to a close, some familiar traditions are dusted off and placed on mantels and dining room tables. As with rollerblades, mullets, and Marmite, traditions are not for everyone, and there is a time and place where they are more or less suitable. Sometimes, traditions are such a part of our daily lives that we recognize them more by external markers rather than by purpose or content.  We are so prone to recall how a tradition makes us feel,  that we may at times forget what it is really about.  And while the comfort of recognition is crucial to traditions, it also makes them ripe for parody and pastiche. 

Both parody and pastiche utilize markers, tropes, and imitations of famously established works and practices. While the former does it to derive humor, the latter is more in the business of paying homage. However, when done correctly, parodies and pastiches both respect and honor the cultures and religions they thematize. The work most frequently lampooned and honored in William & Mary’s Special Collections is the subject of the Nancy H. Marshall Collection of Clement Clarke Moore’s famous American poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” or, as it more commonly known, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. The Marshall collection contains many different editions of Moore’s poem as well as related artifacts.  Do you want an illustrated version? We got you covered. Are you more of a smeller rather than a reader? We can help you with that. Do you want to brush up on your Japanese? これ以上探さない.  But more to the point, we also have several books that use the elements of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas for the sake of parody or pastiche. 

Like most things, parody and pastiche are difficult to define, and it sometimes comes down to the reader to make the distinction for themselves. According to Merriam-Webster, a parody is recognized as an artwork that closely resembles an extant piece or genre for the purpose of ridicule. Pastiche, by contrast, is more commonly defined as a piece of art that imitates a different, more established artwork, sometimes as an homage. Clearly, the two forms can at times overlap or even be confused with one another. 

For this online exhibit we got into the weeds of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, searching for related parodies and pastiches with the hope that we would come out on the other side with a better idea of how the two are defined. As is often the case, we found that the weeds were thicker than expected. But as a rule of thumb we can say that the levity or pathos of the message depends on the positionality of the author.  A smattering of the books in the Nancy H. Marshall Collection are written with the intent of making fun of specific regional holiday celebrations, not really caring whether or not they are appreciated outside of their intended readership. The authors of these books typically come from the regions they thematize, thus enabling them to enrich their poems with details that might be unknown to outsiders. Versions that traffic in pastiche on the other hand, also use details, but more for the sake of education rather than ridicule.

Our exhibit uses old and new acquisitions from the Nancy H. Marshall Collection to show that sometimes the purpose of something old is to act as a framework for something new.  In one version, Saint Nick might be reimagined as a prohibition bootlegger, in a different one, he arrives on a sleigh driven by buffaloes. However, the rhyming scheme and the beats clearly derive from ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, thereby maintaining Moore’s legacy while simultaneously highlighting the perennial need for diverse and other voices. 

Definitions:

• Parody (noun)
  par·​o·​dy | / per-ə-dē /
  plural parodies
  • a literary or musical work in which the style of an author or work is closely imitated for comic effect or in ridicule

• pastiche (noun)
  pas·​tiche | / pa-ˈstēsh /
  • a literary, artistic, musical, or architectural work that imitates the style of previous work

Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “parody" and "pastiche.”