[lit-ideas] Re: History of Humo[u]r

  • From: David Ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 08 Sep 2004 20:28:43 -0700

Those of you who have followed my musings will know that I once wondered if
a course could be taught on the history of humo[u]r.  I'll let you know whe=
n
I've managed it, but I thought that some of you might like to see the
reading list:

Histories:

    Keith Cameron (ed), Humour and History
    Gregg Camfield, Necessary Madness: The Humor of Domesticity in
Nineteenth-Century American Literature
    Stephen Connor, Dumbstruck: A Cultural History of Ventriloquism
    Jim Dawson, Who Cut the Cheese?  A Cultural History of the Fart
    Penelope Fritzer, Merry Wives and Others: A History of Domestic Humor
Writing
    Christa Grossinger, Humour and Folly in Secular and Profane Prints
    Wade Hall, Smiling Phoenix: Southern Humor From 1865
    Heinz Henisch, Positive Pleasures: Early Photography and Humor
    Patrick Houlihan, Wit and Humor in Ancient Egypt
    Linda Martin and Kerry Segrave, Women in comedy; Funny Ladies from the
Turn of the Century to the Present
    Lesley Milne, Reflective Laughter: Aspects of Humour in Russian Culture
    Janetta Rebold, Medieval Mischief, Wit and Humour in the Art of the
Middle Ages
    Ann Rubenstein, Bad Language, Naked Ladies, and Other Threats to the
Nation: A Political History of Comic Books in Mexico
    Barry Sanders, Sudden Glory, Laughter As Subversive History
    Jerold Savory, The Smiling Muse: Victoriana in the Comic Press
    Carrie Shook, Only in Virginia: The Unique History, Humor, and Heart of
the Old Dominion
    Mel Watkins, On the Real Side: A History of African American Comedy

Other Sources:
    Anthologies, e.g.: Melville D. Landon et al, Wit and Humor of the Age,
Comprising Wit, Humor, Pathos, Ridicule, Satires, Dialects, Puns,
Conundrums, Riddles, Charades, Jokes and Magic (Albany, N.Y. 1889) also,
Morris Bishop (ed), A Treasury of British Humor (1942)
and--paradoxically--E. B. White and Katharine S. White, A Subtreasury of
American Humor (1941).  Finally, Alan Coren (ed) The Penguin Book of Modern
Humour (1983)
    Essays, e.g.: Michael Frayn, Speak After the Beep; Studies in the Art o=
f
Communicating With Inanimate and Semi-Animate Objects
    Letters, e.g.: Malcolm Bradbury, Unsent Letters
    Novels, e.g.: Peter Lefcourt, (Di and I) A Novel
    Poetry, e.g.: Wendy Cope (ed): The Funny Side; 101 Humorous Poems
    Satire, e.g.: James H. Boren, When in Doubt, Mumble: A Bureaucrat=B9s
Handbook
    Scripts, e.g.: From Approximately Coast to Coast...It=B9s the Bob and Ray
Show
    Theories. e.g.: Sigmund Freud, Jokes and Their Relation to the
Unconscious

Other, Other Sources (books you may not know and which are windows into an
era):
    George S. Chappell, Through the Alimentary Canal With Gun and Camera
    Irvin S. Cobb, A Laugh A Day Keeps the Doctor Away
    Alan Coren, Golfing for Cats
    Frederick C. Crews, The Pooh Perplex
    A. P. Herbert, Uncommon Law
    Clive James, Glued to the Box
    Walt Kelly, Pogo
    Michael Marshall (ed), The Stanley Holloway Monologues
    George Mikes, How to Be An Alien
    Spike Milligan, Adolf Hitler, My Part in His Downfall
    Neil Munro, Para Handy
    C. Northcote Parkinson, Parkinson=B9s Law or the Pursuit of Progress
    W.C.Sellar and R.J. Yeatman, 1066 and All That
    Mark Spade, How to Run a Bassoon Factory or Business Explained
    Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle, Molesworth
  =20
    You should try to understand why Swift and Shakespeare and Boccaccio an=
d
Moliere and Stern and Pope and... were (and are?) funny.  Editors=B9 comments
in anthologies will give you a starting point.
    You may also want to investigate the twentieth century work of Douglas
Adams, Bill Bryson, Mikhael Bulgakov, Jaroslav Hasek,  Milan Kundera, David
Lodge, Tom Robbins, David Sedaris, Hunter Thompson, James Thurber, P.G.
Wodehouse, Tom Wolfe.
    And then, there are recordings, television and film.  Can I really have
reached this far and not mentioned Monty Python or Second City or...?

David Ritchie
Portland, Oregon


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