Funny Aneurysm Moment/Literature: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
Examples of [[{{TOPLEVELPAGE}}]]s in [[{{SUBPAGENAME}}]] include:
* In the novel ''[[Jumper (novel)|Jumper]]'', the main character {{spoiler|drops a terrorist from the World Trade Center. He catches him before the man can die, but still...}} Brr...
* Early on in ''[[The Catcher in The Rye]]'', the main character Holden quips "This is my people shooting hat. I shoot people in this hat." This was a harmless bit of sarcasm for decades until the book became associated with John Lennon's assassin and John Hinckley, attempted assassin of Ronald Reagan, respectively.
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* While editing her Kiesha'Ra series, Author Amelia Atwater-Rhodes had a webcomic series called <nowiki>ihme*</nowiki> (Short for I Hate My Editor), which parodied the events of Kiesha'ra. It delved into possible alternative skylines, freely played with [[Flanderization]], and makes humorous events out of what would actually be traumatic and disastrous in the series' canon.
* ''[[Discworld]]''
** ''[[
** In ''[[
** It's not as horrible as Sir Terry's current condition, but descriptions of the lack of rain in ''[[
*** Um, [[A Million Is a Statistic|that one might become as horrible]] if it keeps up.
*** At least that one has a happy ending when Rincewind and the Librarian finally summon the rain. [[wikipedia:Queensland floods 2010-2011|Thousands of years worth all at once.]] Gets you coming and going, doesn't it?
** ''[[
** In ''[[
* In ''[[Grendel (novel)|Grendel]]'' by John Gardner, the work ends with the words, ''"Poor Grendel's had an accident. So may you all."'' Eleven years later, Gardner died in a motorcycle accident (days before his wedding, no less).
* One of [[Dorothy L. Sayers]]' [[Lord Peter Wimsey]] novels, written sometime in the early-to-mid 1930s, features a scene where a few of the characters discuss politics. The [[Funny Aneurysm Moment]] comes when one of them makes an approving offhand mention of Hitler doing "interesting social experiments" in Germany.
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* ''[[Literature/A Man In Full|A Man In Full]]'' by Tom Wolfe has a sex scene in which the characters do "that thing with the cup". Wolfe has admitted that he himself [[Noodle Implements|has no idea what they're doing.]] Nowadays, an [[wikipedia:Two Girls One Cup|infamous]] [[Shock Site]] turns this into [[Nausea Fuel]].
* Saki's story "The Unrest-Cure" involves a practical joker in pre-WWI England (near Saki's "present day") convincing a sedate gentleman that he's planning to "massacre every Jew in the neighborhood." The gentleman exclaims that it will be "a blot on the Twentieth Century!" but the story ends with the century "unblotted." Later on, the century got good and blotted.
* Prior to the release of the fifth ''[[Harry Potter]]'' book, a filk of "Cell Block Tango" from ''[[Chicago]]'' that contained various fans' predictions on who would die in that book was posted on the ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20131009183826/http://www.harrypotterfilks.com/ Harry Potter Filks]'' website. The irony of the filk lies not so much in the fact that the character that ''did'' die in that book was not among those listed, but that two books later, three of the ones listed did after all. [http://www.harrypotterfilks.com/places/theorybay.htm#Death_Row_Tango Read at your own risk] if you haven't finished the series yet.
** Another Potter one: Back in ''[[Harry Potter and
** Early in ''HBP'', Ron and Harry are talking about hoping that the new DADA teacher, {{spoiler|Snape}}, will succumb to the trend of DADA teachers leaving after only one year. Harry flippantly says something along the lines of "I'm hoping for another death". Well, {{spoiler|Snape}} certainly leaves the post after another death...
** Almost every scene with Sirius and Dumbledore.
*** Especially then scene with the Mirror of Erised in the first book. Warm pair of socks, anyone?
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*** Same with Cedric "That'll be something to tell your grandkids Ced. You beat Harry Potter!"
**** Everything Amos Diggory says to or about Cedric involves him living to a ripe old age. One can only assume Rowling did that on purpose.
** In ''Goblet of Fire'': "If the Hogwarts Express crashed tomorrow and George and I died, how would you feel knowing the last thing we heard from you was an unfounded accusation?" {{spoiler|As of ''Deathly Hallows'', jokes about Fred dying are [[Harsher in Hindsight|rather unfortunate]]...}}
** Even worse, the last thing
** Harry near the end of "[[Harry Potter and
** In
** After the anthrax scare following 9/11, it's more than likely that more than a few insensitive fans have made at least one inappropriate joke about Rita Skeeter sending prank mail infested with anthrax spores to Hermione (an incident from ''Goblet of Fire'').
* In ''Sewer, Gas and Electric'', a [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]] [[Cyberpunk]] parody from 1997, the Empire State Building has been replaced by a mile-high skyscraper called the Phoenix. The original building had been destroyed by a colliding airliner. No longer funny in hindsight.
** Given how the building had already had a plane crash into it in the past, it probably had this effect on some at the time it was written too.
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** Well, it wasn't a laser... {{spoiler|it was the Star Destroyer she was flying around inside of dropping onto the moon and self-destructing.}}
** The [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] is fond of these. Mostly they deal with Han and Leia's children. First there was Luke's vision of them. The [[Jedi Academy Trilogy]] gave us Jacen Solo holding off Exar Kun's minions. Then there was Master Ikrit's view that Anakin Solo would become the greatest Jedi; he gets [[Killed Off for Real]] in the [[New Jedi Order]]. More recently, we had [[Young Jedi Knights]] have Jacen say "What's the difference between a Jedi Knight and a Jedi Master? Ask me in about twenty years!" Nearly twenty years later, he's a Sith Lord.
* In the novel ''[[Good Omens]]'', first published in 1990, has a bit that is now not so funny to read anymore... Remember the Horseman of the Apocalypse, Pollution? His favorite disaster was an oil spill? Causing mayhem, destruction of life, and disaster for years to come? Yeah... [https://web.archive.org/web/20100530144015/http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gIXWYBTpLtSayJtg41LKXpxSxVPAD9FV8LH81 Ouch.]
** Though in all fairness, the novel could've been written in the aftermath of or inspired by the then-recent Exxon Valdez oil spill (occurred in 1989), which was until 2010 the worst oil disaster the United States had ever seen, with "destruction of [wild]life" being constantly reported on in the news and "disaster for years to come" predicted by all the experts.
* The ''[[Tales of the City]]'' books have many of these. There's just something about cheerful, [[Utopia|utopian]] gay-themed romantic comedies written in the 1970s.
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* ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'': In one of Bran's chapters in the first book, he remarks that "Theon Greyjoy had once commented that [[Dumb Muscle|Hodor did not know much]], but no one could doubt [[Verbal Tic Name|he knew his name]]." The line appears to just be using Theon's [[Jerkass|Jerkassery]] to launch a humorous tidbit from Old Nan that his real name isn't even Hodor, it's Walder. In the fifth book, {{spoiler|after Theon is tortured into insanity, he's forced to take on the name Reek. He can't even bear to think the name Theon until well into the novel, and doesn't say it aloud until his very last line.}}
{{quote|{{spoiler|Theon}}: [[Madness Mantra|You have to know your]] ''[[Madness Mantra|name.]]''}}
* ''[[Someone Else's
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