A Very Serious Thing

Women's Humor and American Culture

Author: Nancy A. Walker
ISBN: 0816617031

A Very Serious Thing was first published in 1988. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. "It is a very serious thing to be a funny woman." –Frances Miriam Berry Whitcher A Very Serious Thing is the first book-length study of a part of American literature that has been consistently neglected by scholars and underrepresented in anthologies—American women's humorous writing. Nancy Walker proposes that the American humorous tradition to be redefined to include women's humor as well as men's, because, contrary to popular opinion, women do have a sense of humor. Her book draws on history, sociology, anthropology, literature, and psychology to posit that the reasons for neglect of women's humorous expression are rooted in a male-dominated culture that has officially denied women the freedom and self-confidence essential to the humorist. Ra

Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
Publish Date: 1988

Subjects: Literary Criticism / General

This book is available in the following Community Centers: Women's Center (Location: Humor)