Humorous Structures of English Narratives, 1200-1600

1. Auflage 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4438-4949-4
Verlag: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Buch, Englisch, 335 Seiten

We all have the ability to recognize and create humour. But how do we do it?

Salvatore Attardo and Victor Raskin have attempted to explain the workings of humour with their General Theory of Verbal Humor. How well does their theory explain the way humour ‘works’ in a particular text, and can it provide us with interesting, novel interpretations? By identifying and interpreting the narrative structures that create humour, this study tests the usefulness of Attardo & Raskin’s humour theory on a specific corpus of fabliaux, parodies and tragedies.

Hamilton proposes a supplementation of the General Theory of Verbal Humor to create a means of undertaking what she calls a ‘humorist reading’. By posing the questions ‘why is this humorous?’, ‘how is it humorous?’ or ‘why is it not humorous?’ and providing the theoretical tools to answer them, a ‘humorist reading’ can make a valuable contribution to our understanding of a literary text and its place in society.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hamilton, Theresa

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Englische Literatur
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturtheorie: Poetik und Literaturästhetik
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturgeschichte und Literaturkritik

Über Autor(innen)

Hamilton, Theresa
Theresa Hamilton studied medieval English at the universities of Jena and Dublin, before completing a doctorate under the supervision of Prof. Monika Fludernik at the University of Freiburg. She has made several contributions to the fields of medieval and humour studies, such as “Der ‘Mechanismus’ des Humors” (eds. Biessenecker & Kuhn) and “The Fabliau” (ed. Fludernik).

Theresa Hamilton studied medieval English at the universities of Jena and Dublin, before completing a doctorate under the supervision of Prof. Monika Fludernik at the University of Freiburg. She has made several contributions to the fields of medieval and humour studies, such as “Der ‘Mechanismus’ des Humors” (eds. Biessenecker & Kuhn) and “The Fabliau” (ed. Fludernik).