Working with a substantial body of foundational political criticism, including Marx, Gramsci, and Althusser, while integrating these political ideas with contemporary research into the effect of humor on communication, comprehension, emotion and learning, this work joins in an ongoing conversation, and contributes to the discourse surrounding the intersection of these two ideas. The theoretical conversation that links humor with political critique extends back to the work of Mikhail Bakhtin, and his analysis of Rabalais and His World [[which contributes xyz foundational premise???.]] However, theoretical work addressing the use of humor as a didactic strategy in literature is thin, and two of the major contributions to the conversation in this paper are not journal articles or book chapters, but doctoral dissertations. Furthermore, those dissertations have a gap of almost 30 years between them. The work done so far in this area both opens a space and points to the need for further research into the intersection of humor with political didacticism in literature.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Tom Robbins Project: Working Bibliography
I'm recording the sources I've located and *skimmed and/or *read the abstract of and/or *partially read. I'm calling this a "working bibliography" because I'm pretty sure I won't end up citing everything on this list. It is, after all, only an 8-10 page paper. I'd use up 10 pages just annotating these! But I'd like to keep this recorded for future reference. Especially if I ever decide to expand my analysis into something broader than I'm doing for this 638 paper. I've separated the sources into three categories--political criticism, humor theory, and the intersection of the two--to make the list more coherent. Ergo:
Hoyser, Catherine E., and Lorena L. Stookey. "Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas." Tom Robbins: a Critical Companion. Westport: Greenwood, 1997. 139-56. Print.
Political Criticism:
Althusser, Louis. "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses." Literary Theory: an Anthology. Ed. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Second ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub. 2004. 693-702. Print.
Emerson, Caryl. "On the Generation That Squandered Its Philosophers (Losev, Bakhtin, and Classical Thought as Equipment for Living)." Studies in East European Thought 56.2/3 (2004): 95-117. JStor. Web. 17 Apr. 2010.
Gitlin, Todd. "After the Failed Faiths: Beyond Individualism, Marxism, and Multiculturalism." World Policy Journal 12.1 (1995): 61-68. JStor. Web. 5 Apr. 2010.
Gramsci, Antonio. "Hegemony." Literary Theory: an Anthology. Ed. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Second ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub, 2004. 673-74. Print.
Marx, Karl. "Labor and Capital." Literary Theory: an Anthology. Ed. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Second ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub, 2004. 659-64. Print.
Novak, Estelle G. ""Dynamo" School of Poets." Contemporary Literature 11.4 (1970): 526-39. JStor. Web. 17 Apr. 2010.
Rikowski, Glenn. "Left Alone: End Time for Marxist Educational Theory?" British Journal of Sociology of Education 17.4 (1996): 415-51. JStor. Web. 17 Apr. 2010.
Humor Theory:
Bell, Nancy D. "Humor Comprehension: Lessons Learned from Cross-Cultural Communication." Humor: International Journal of Humor Research 20.4 (2007): 367-87. Academic Search Elite. Web. 14 Apr. 2010.
Berk, Ronald A. "Does Humor in Course Tests Reduce Anxiety and Improve Performance?" College Teaching 48.4 (2000): 151-58. JStor. Web. 7 Apr. 2010.
Harbsmeier, Christophe. "Confucius Ridens: Humor in The Analects." Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 50.1 (1990): 131-61. JStor. Web. 17 Apr. 2010.
Mason, Jeffrey D. "Arthur Miller's Ironic Resurrection." Theatre Journal 5.4 (2003): 657-77. JStor. Web. 9 Apr. 2010.
Political and/or Didacticism and Humor Theory Combined:
Mascha, Efharis. "Political Satire and Hegemony: A Case of “Passive Revolution” during Mussolini’s Ascendance to Power 1919-1925." Humor: International Journal of Humor Research 21.1 (2008): 61-98. Academic Search Elite. Web. 14 Apr. 2010.
Bakhtin, Mikhail. "Rabelais and His World." Literary Theory: an Anthology. Ed. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Second ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub. 2004. 686-92. Print.
Thorne, Christian. "Thumbing Our Nose at the Public Sphere: Satire, the Market, and the Invention of Literature." PMLA 116.3 (2001): 531-44. JStor. Web. 17 Apr. 2010.
Van Pelt, Sandra Eileen Body. "Excremental Recycling in Selected Writings of Edward Taylor and Jonathan Swift: A Structuralist Study in Scatological Humor and Didactic Accommodation." Diss. University of Mississippi, 2003. Digital Dissertations and Theses (2003). ProQuest. Web. 23 Apr. 2010.
Whall-Seligman, Helen Marie. "To Instruct and Delight: Didactic Method in Five Tudor Dramas." Diss. Yale University, 1976. Digital Dissertations and Theses. ProQuest. Web. 23 Apr. 2010.
Working Bibliography
Political Criticism:
Althusser, Louis. "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses." Literary Theory: an Anthology. Ed. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Second ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub. 2004. 693-702. Print.
Emerson, Caryl. "On the Generation That Squandered Its Philosophers (Losev, Bakhtin, and Classical Thought as Equipment for Living)." Studies in East European Thought 56.2/3 (2004): 95-117. JStor. Web. 17 Apr. 2010.
Gitlin, Todd. "After the Failed Faiths: Beyond Individualism, Marxism, and Multiculturalism." World Policy Journal 12.1 (1995): 61-68. JStor. Web. 5 Apr. 2010.
Gramsci, Antonio. "Hegemony." Literary Theory: an Anthology. Ed. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Second ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub, 2004. 673-74. Print.
Marx, Karl. "Labor and Capital." Literary Theory: an Anthology. Ed. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Second ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub, 2004. 659-64. Print.
Novak, Estelle G. ""Dynamo" School of Poets." Contemporary Literature 11.4 (1970): 526-39. JStor. Web. 17 Apr. 2010.
Rikowski, Glenn. "Left Alone: End Time for Marxist Educational Theory?" British Journal of Sociology of Education 17.4 (1996): 415-51. JStor. Web. 17 Apr. 2010.
Humor Theory:
Bell, Nancy D. "Humor Comprehension: Lessons Learned from Cross-Cultural Communication." Humor: International Journal of Humor Research 20.4 (2007): 367-87. Academic Search Elite. Web. 14 Apr. 2010.
Berk, Ronald A. "Does Humor in Course Tests Reduce Anxiety and Improve Performance?" College Teaching 48.4 (2000): 151-58. JStor. Web. 7 Apr. 2010.
Harbsmeier, Christophe. "Confucius Ridens: Humor in The Analects." Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 50.1 (1990): 131-61. JStor. Web. 17 Apr. 2010.
Mason, Jeffrey D. "Arthur Miller's Ironic Resurrection." Theatre Journal 5.4 (2003): 657-77. JStor. Web. 9 Apr. 2010.
Political and/or Didacticism and Humor Theory Combined:
Mascha, Efharis. "Political Satire and Hegemony: A Case of “Passive Revolution” during Mussolini’s Ascendance to Power 1919-1925." Humor: International Journal of Humor Research 21.1 (2008): 61-98. Academic Search Elite. Web. 14 Apr. 2010.
Bakhtin, Mikhail. "Rabelais and His World." Literary Theory: an Anthology. Ed. Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Second ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub. 2004. 686-92. Print.
Thorne, Christian. "Thumbing Our Nose at the Public Sphere: Satire, the Market, and the Invention of Literature." PMLA 116.3 (2001): 531-44. JStor. Web. 17 Apr. 2010.
Van Pelt, Sandra Eileen Body. "Excremental Recycling in Selected Writings of Edward Taylor and Jonathan Swift: A Structuralist Study in Scatological Humor and Didactic Accommodation." Diss. University of Mississippi, 2003. Digital Dissertations and Theses (2003). ProQuest. Web. 23 Apr. 2010.
Whall-Seligman, Helen Marie. "To Instruct and Delight: Didactic Method in Five Tudor Dramas." Diss. Yale University, 1976. Digital Dissertations and Theses. ProQuest. Web. 23 Apr. 2010.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Woman Warrior and Princess Valhalla
more fragments hastily recorded herein because i cannot be counted on to remember my own middle name!!!
ok. i'd like to compare the dream sequence in the beginning of woman warrior with the princess valhalla video. i'll also need to include some of the backstory (for valhalla) in order to make the connection.
some thoughts on the two compared/contrasted:
*both seek to undermine feminine inferiority by positioning the woman as a warrior. the princess valhalla video is clearly ironic. can the dream sequence in woman warrior also be read as ironic?
*princess valhalla is the first woman in her kingdom to reach sexual maturity. this is both a position of power and a cause of danger. she seeks to make herself "unnattractive to the prince" and evade his sexual advances. compare this with kingston's response to sexual maturity in the dream sequence. she embraces her mate (whom she has foreseen) but in many ways rejects motherhood.
*princess valhalla, in the video, is an incompetent warrior. if she has power--if, in fact "might wins" then her power lies somewhere beyond strength as a warrior. perhaps it is the kind of power that camille paglia reads into a woman's sexuality. she certainly commands the gaze... kingston's woman warrior, on the other hand, is a virtually perfect (for lack of a better word) mimesis of the male version of a warrior. if her version of power is indeed ironic, then, the irony must lie in somehow undermining the male version of strength, virility, honor, and so on as represented in the icon of warrior.
*princess valhalla comes from a society that values her for her femininity and fecundity. in the chinese culture, these are devalued. yet both women seek to escape being pigeonholed into a role inscribed by gender. in what ways are their responses to gender roles similar/different?
other random insights:
*the dream sequence, if it were told to another, is a sort of "talk-story". in fact, it is being told to us though through the written medium. (discuss.)
*kingston ascribes a tremendous power to language, voice, and naming. talk-story is only one--significant, but singular--aspect of the power of words. throughout the memoirs, this remains a powerful and vividly present trope. (discuss.)
*asian languages provide a rich example of the conflation of visual with verbal rhetoric. on several occassions, kingston comments on the difference between the western "meaning" of a given word when contrasted with the visual connotations implicit in the ideographs. (look up references. discuss. essays from hill's defining visual rhetoric are relevant.)
ok. i'd like to compare the dream sequence in the beginning of woman warrior with the princess valhalla video. i'll also need to include some of the backstory (for valhalla) in order to make the connection.
some thoughts on the two compared/contrasted:
*both seek to undermine feminine inferiority by positioning the woman as a warrior. the princess valhalla video is clearly ironic. can the dream sequence in woman warrior also be read as ironic?
*princess valhalla is the first woman in her kingdom to reach sexual maturity. this is both a position of power and a cause of danger. she seeks to make herself "unnattractive to the prince" and evade his sexual advances. compare this with kingston's response to sexual maturity in the dream sequence. she embraces her mate (whom she has foreseen) but in many ways rejects motherhood.
*princess valhalla, in the video, is an incompetent warrior. if she has power--if, in fact "might wins" then her power lies somewhere beyond strength as a warrior. perhaps it is the kind of power that camille paglia reads into a woman's sexuality. she certainly commands the gaze... kingston's woman warrior, on the other hand, is a virtually perfect (for lack of a better word) mimesis of the male version of a warrior. if her version of power is indeed ironic, then, the irony must lie in somehow undermining the male version of strength, virility, honor, and so on as represented in the icon of warrior.
*princess valhalla comes from a society that values her for her femininity and fecundity. in the chinese culture, these are devalued. yet both women seek to escape being pigeonholed into a role inscribed by gender. in what ways are their responses to gender roles similar/different?
other random insights:
*the dream sequence, if it were told to another, is a sort of "talk-story". in fact, it is being told to us though through the written medium. (discuss.)
*kingston ascribes a tremendous power to language, voice, and naming. talk-story is only one--significant, but singular--aspect of the power of words. throughout the memoirs, this remains a powerful and vividly present trope. (discuss.)
*asian languages provide a rich example of the conflation of visual with verbal rhetoric. on several occassions, kingston comments on the difference between the western "meaning" of a given word when contrasted with the visual connotations implicit in the ideographs. (look up references. discuss. essays from hill's defining visual rhetoric are relevant.)
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