Literary satire has always lent itself well to comparative study, if only because so many of its characteristic traits seem particularly stable across time and place. In another era, one might have been tempted to speak of indignation, mockery and ironic self-righteousness - to name only a few of satire's continually recurring elements - as human universals, and so to believe that as long as people find artistic outlets to represent their experience, there will always be something instantly recognizable as satire.