Dark Laughter and Light Comedy: Humor and the American Character
1981; University of Toronto Press; Volume: 12; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.3138/cras-012-03-11
ISSN1710-114X
Autores Tópico(s)Comics and Graphic Narratives
ResumoJames C. Austin. American Humor in France. Two Centuries of French Criticism of the Comic Spirit in American Literature. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1978. 177 pp. Walter Blair and Hamlin Hill. America's Humor. From Poor Richard to Doonesbury. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978. 559 pp. Ronald Wallace. The Last Laugh: Form and Affirmation in the Contemporary American Comic Novel. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1979. 159 pp. In the Tom Stoppard play Night and Day, two English colonials in an African country are briefing a newly arrived journalist. The black strong man who runs the country as president—a mixture of Idi Amin and George Washington — is expected to arrive at their house at any moment, and the journalist is warned of his unpredictable temper in something like the following words: "Don't worry, unless he laughs. If he laughs, look out!" Buried in the general discussion, the comment is apt soon to be forgotten by the audience. A few minutes later the dictator arrives, and slouches amiably in a deck chair as the group engages in conversation. Then, a casual comment by the journalist evokes a booming laugh; a second later, the massive fist of the black ruler lashes out and strikes the journalist to the floor.
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