Funny peculiar.

In general, it’s accepted that comedy is the most difficult writing category by which to achieve commercial success. And packaging it in short-story form compounds the author’s problems. Such obstacles, however, have done little to dissuade the whimsy of the writer – even those of a high literary calibre. Celebrated Russian author, Anton Chekov (1860-1904) found that his quirky and often peculiar short-story offerings – A Chameleon (1884), A Joke (1886) and The Orator (1897) – actually heightened his reputation. The same goes for American author and fellow short-story writer, Richard Connell (1893-1949). Among his offerings in this vein are: A Reputation (1922), plus The Man Who Could Imitate A Bee and A Friend of Napoleon (both published in 1923). Humour, sometimes masking satire, was very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the writer used his skills to draw attention to societal ills such as corruption or dangerous political ideologies as demonstrated by British author, George Orwell, in his politically allegorical, dystopian novella, Animal Farm.