Gender and laughter : comic affirmation and subversion in traditional and modern media / edited by Gaby Pailer [and others].

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Pailer, Gaby.

Series:

Amsterdamer Beiträge zur neueren Germanistik 70.

Amsterdamer Beiträge zur neueren Germanistik ; 70

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wit and humor--History and criticism.

Wit and humor.

Wit and humor in motion pictures.

Sex role--Humor.

Sex role.

Gender identity--Humor.

Gender identity.

Laughter.

Comedy.

Comic, The.

Literature--History and criticism.

Literature.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Humor.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (386 pages).

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam ; New York, NY : Rodopi, 2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This essay collection is dedicated to intersections between gender theories and theories of laughter, humour, and comedy. It is based on the results of a three-year research programme, entitled “Gender – Laughter – Media” (2003-2006) and includes a series of investigations on traditional and modern media in western cultures from the 18th to the 20th century. A theoretical opening part is followed by four thematic sections that explore the multiple forms of irritating stereotypical gender perceptions; aspects of (post-)colonialism and multiculturalism; the comic impact of literary and media genres in different national cultures; as well as the different comic strategies in fictional, philosophical, artistic or real life communication. The volume presents a variety of new approaches to the overlaps between gender and laughter that have only barely been considered in groundbreaking research. It forms a valuable read for scholars of literary, theatre, media, and cultural studies, at the same time reaching out to a general readership.

Contents:

Preliminary Material / Gaby Pailer , Andreas Böhn , Stefan Horlacher and Ulrich Scheck

Introduction / Gaby Pailer

A Short Introduction to Theories of Humour, the Comic, and Laughter / Stefan Horlacher

Subversions of Gender Identities through Laughter and the Comic? / Andreas Böhn

“Kiss a white Galathea, she will laugh and blush”: Laughter, Blush, and Gender Roles in Gottfried Keller’s Novella Cycle A Formula for Love. The Epigram (1881) / Jessica Hamann

“A comic turn, turned serious”: Humour, Body Modification, and the Natural in Fay Weldon’s The Life and Loves of a She Devil / Beth Pentney

“From now on, I am Carmen”: Imagining Cross-Dressing as Comic Protest in the Life and Work of Romanian-German Author Franz Hodjak / Raluca Cernahoschi

Where No Woman Has Gone Before: Humour and Gender Crossing in Star Trek’s Voyager and Enterprise / Ulrich Scheck

“To be educated is to become a Harlequin”: Cross-Skinning as Carnivalesque Hybridity in Michel Serres, Hannah Höch’s Dada, and Orlan’s Body Art / Markus Hallensleben

Multi-Layered Conflicts with the Norm: Gender and Cultural Diversity in Two Comedies of the German Enlightenment / Gaby Pailer

Indigenous Laughter: The Voice of the Other in Tales from the “South Seas” / Sabine Wilke

Subverting the Pantragic Heroine: Nestroy against Hebbel / Gabrijela Mecky Zaragoza

Black and White in Color or Black Victory? The Comic Effect of Displacement in the Film Noirs et blancs en couleur (1976) by Jean-Jacques Annaud / Jakub Kazecki

The City as Stage of Transgression: Performance, Picaresque Reminiscences, and Linguistic Incongruity in Emine S. Özdamar’s The Bridge of the Golden Horn / Karin Lornsen

Moral Ideal and Physical Desire: Gender Roles, Sex, and Comic Elements in the Rococo Tales of Christoph Martin Wieland / Andreas Seidler

Social Satire, Literary Parody, and Gender Critique in French and German Fairy Tales of the Enlightenment: Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Friederike Helene Unger / Birte Giesler

“But I’m a Lady!” Undoing Gender Bending in Contemporary British Radio Comedy / Ellie Kennedy

Mockumentalism: Re-Casting the Void in Contemporary British TV Comedy / Stear Peter

Couples and Friends: Comic Strategies and Social Structures in German and American Comedy Series / Christine Mielke

Affirmative Humour in Bully Herbig’s Parody of Star Wars/Star Trek: (T)Raumschiff Surprise / Frank Degler

May I Laugh about Women’s Lib? or: The Difficult Relationship of Humour and Feminism in Margaret Atwood, Caryl Churchill, and Helen Fielding / Susanne Bach

Aletheia as Striptease: Gendered Allegories of Truth in Heidegger, Gorgias, and Barthes / Stefan Börnchen

Judith Butler and the Problem of Adequacy, or: The Epistemological Dimension of Laughter / Volker Helbig

Comparing Same-Gender and Opposite-Gender Conversations: a Laughing Matter? / Caroline L. Rieger

The Joy of Anti-Art: Subversion through Humour in Dada / Oliver C. Speck

List of Contributors / Gaby Pailer , Andreas Böhn , Stefan Horlacher and Ulrich Scheck.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

90-420-2673-1

OCLC:

455846046

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789042026735 DOI