Humorous structures of English narratives, 1200-1600 / by Theresa Hamilton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hamilton, Theresa.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English literature--Middle English, 1100-1500--History and criticism.

English literature.

English literature--History and criticism.

English wit and humor.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1 volume)

Place of Publication:

Newcastle upon Tyne, UK : Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

We all have the ability to recognize and create humour, but how exactly do we do it? Salvatore Attardo and Victor Raskin have attempted to explain the workings of humour with their General Theory of Verbal Humor (1991). The central aim of Hamiltonas study is to test the usefulness of the General Theory of Verbal Humor on a specific corpus by identifying and interpreting the narrative structures that create humour. How well can this theory explain the way humour OEworksa in a particular tale, and can it provide us with interesting, novel interpretations? - - The genres used to test the General Theory of Verbal Humor are the fabliau, the parody and the tragedy. This corpus represents different kinds and degrees of humour and thus challenges the theory on various levels. - - Hamilton proposes a supplementation of the General Theory of Verbal Humor in order to create an effective means of undertaking what she calls a OEhumorist readinga. By posing the questions OEwhy is this humorous?a, OEhow is it humorous?a or OEwhy is it not humorous?a and providing the theoretical tools to answer them, a OEhumorist readinga can make a valuable contribution to understanding any given literary text and its place in society. -

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed October 31, 2013).

ISBN:

1-4438-5327-5

OCLC:

861081681