What's So Funny? - Humor in American Culture

Critical studies attempting to define and dissect American humor have been published steadily for nearly one hundred years. However, until now, key documents from that history have never been brought together in a single volume for students and scholars. What's So Funny? Humor in American Culture, a collection of 15 essays, examines the meaning of humor and attempts to pinpoint its impact on American culture and society, while providing a historical overview of its progres-sion. Essays from Nancy Walker and Zita Dresner, Joseph Boskin and Joseph Dorinson, William Keough, Roy Blount, Jr., and others trace the development of American humor from the colonial period to the present, focusing on its relationship with ethnicity, gender, violence, and geography. An excellent reader for courses in American studies and American social and cultural history, What's So Funny? explores the traits of the American experience that have given rise to its humor.

List of contents

Part 1 Part I
Chapter 2 Introduction: What Is Humor? Why American Humor?
Chapter 3 Suggestions for Further Reading
Part 4 Part II
Chapter 5 American Humorists in 1882
Chapter 6 The Requisites for American Humor
Chapter 7 The Great American Joke
Chapter 8 No End of Jokes
Chapter 9 The Violence of American Humor
Chapter 10 Urban Legends
Chapter 11 Southern Humor
Chapter 12 Women's Humor in America
Chapter 13 Comics as Culture
Chapter 14 Stand-up Comedy as Social and Cultural Mediation
Chapter 15 Ethnic Huor: Subversion and Survival
Chapter 16 Comic Films
Chapter 17 Television Comedy
Chapter 18 Ideology in the Television Situation Comedy

About the author

Nancy A. Walker is professor of English at Vanderbilt University.

Summary

Presents studies attempting to define and dissect American humor for students and scholars.

Product details

• Assisted by: Michael Barton (Editor), Nancy Walker (Editor), Nancy A Walker (Editor), Nancy A. Walker (Editor)
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.11.1998
• EAN: 9780842026888
• ISBN: 978-0-8420-2688-8
• Dimensions: 155 mm x 229 mm x 17 mm
• Weight: 408 g
• Series: American Visions: Readings in; American Visions: Readings in American Culture; American Visions: Readings in American Culture; American Visions: Readings in
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Social sciences, law, business > Social sciences (general); USA, Cultural Studies, Anthropology, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, United States of America, USA