Twain's brand : humor in contemporary American culture / Judith Yaross Lee.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lee, Judith Yaross, 1949-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Twain, Mark, 1835-1910--Influence.

Twain, Mark.

Twain, Mark, 1835-1910.

American wit and humor--History and criticism.

American wit and humor.

Physical Description:

xiv, 226 pages, 12 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Jackson, Mississippi : University Press of Mississippi, [2012]

Summary:

In Twain's Brand: Humor in Contemporary American Culture, Judith Yaross Lee trace four hallmarks of Twain's humor that are especially significant today. Mark Twain's invention of a stage persona, comically conflated with his biographical self, lives on in contemporary performances by Garrison Keillor, Margaret Cho, Jerry Seinfeld, and Jon Stewart. The postcolonial critique of Britain that underlies America's nationalist tall tale tradition not only self-destructs in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court but also drives the critique of American Exceptionalism in Philip Roth's literary satires. The semiliterate writing that gives Adventures of Huckleberry Finn its "vernacular vision" -wrapping cultural critique in ostensibly innocent transgressions and misunderstandings-has a counterpart in the apparently untutored drawing style and social critique seen in pie Simpsons, Lynda Barry's comics, and The Boondocks. And the humor business of recent decades depends on the same brand-name promotion, cross-media synergy, and copyright practices that Clemens pioneered and fought for a century ago. Twain's Brand highlights the modern relationship among humor, commerce, and culture that were first exploited by Mark Twain. Book jacket.

Contents:

Twain's brand and the modern mood

Standing up: the self-made comedian

Humor and empire

Kid stuff: the vernacular vision and the visual

Vernacular

Comic brands: more than funny business.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 181-213) and index.

ISBN:

9781617036439

1617036439

OCLC:

784125255