Margaret Atwood's humor (2nd ed.) (original) (raw)

The Impulse toward Comedy in Margaret Atwood's Poetry

1990

This essay explores comic impulses within the poetry of the Canadian a-.hor Margetret Atwood. The impulse toward comedy occurs as a by-product of an interaction between scripted text and performing reader. Reading, then, may be profitably viewed as a rehearsal for both. In Atwood, parentheses act as textually defined cues for comedy. Additionally, a reader specifies the exact voicing for the persona, opening up the text's potential for comic interpretation. In this discussion several possible comic voicings are improvisationally generated and examine6.

Situational Irony in Contemporary American Humorist Literature

New Writing: Journal for Contemporary Literature

This paper explores the use of self-reflection and empathy to lessen the harshness of irony in contemporary American humorist literature. Three contemporary nonfiction authors, David Sedaris, Sarah Vowell, and David Foster Wallace, are showcased to demonstrate the utilization of empathy and regard for the audience in order to make humour in contemporary literature successful, approachable, and understandable to a modern readership.

Humour, Irony and Satire in Literature

TJPRC, 2013

Humour, irony and satire are technically distinct elements of literature. They have different origins. They are used in different ways with different purposes. The literary works have different modes. Each of them evokes different kind of fun and sense of pleasure. Each of them has generated new kinds of genres. However, they have some interrelations and people often mention them as synonyms. The present article researches these differences and similarities and make inferences to bring up some conclusions.

Politics, Violence, and Victimization in Margaret Atwood’s Selected Novels

International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences, 2015

Canadian novels have witnessed a movement from description to more different analytical and interpretative directions. Margaret Atwood's oeuvres are belonged to the postmodern literary field of feminist writing. Her fictions show a severe alertness of the relationship between chains and slavery, i.e. between women's requirement for relationships with others and her requirements for freedom and autonomy. In this paper, The Handmaid's Tale, Bodily Harm, Surfacing, and The Edible Woman will be surveyed in a direct relationship between politics, violence and victimization of female protagonists. An examination on Margaret Atwood's novels demonstrates that she is pioneer in the dimension of time by being a revolter against the patriarchal society.

Making Light of Grave Matters Humour in Edith Eaton s Works

English Studies, 2024

When Edith Eaton (Sui Sin Far) published her only book Mrs. Spring Fragrance in 1912, it received about twenty reviews in the American and Canadian press. Many of the reviews suggested that the nature of the book was light and fresh, albeit the larger part of her works dealt with unsuccessful cases of Americanisation and their grave consequences. In this article, I will focus on the use of humour in what are perceived as Eaton’s light pieces. I argue that by making grave matters light, Eaton was able to secure publication while safeguarding her messages. More importantly, Eaton developed a special sense of humour, which I term a benevolent amusement, in her works. Her structurally coded messages, wrapped in multilayered humour, are like time capsules to be opened now.

Interview with Margaret Atwood

Iowa Journal of Literary Studies, 1986

W o r k in g T o E l u c i d a t e and promote the literature of her native Canada, Margaret Atwood has edited and introduced The New Oxford Book of Canadian Verse in English (1982) and written many essays on the topic, including her comprehensive Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature (1972). In addition, Atwood has published nine works of poetry and eight works of fiction-including Surfacing, Lady Oracle, Life Before M an, The Edible Woman, and the recent science fiction bestseller, The Handmaid's Tale. In her creative writings, Atwood explores issues of both gender and genre. Frequently center ing on the problems faced by women in society, her works have been described as "feminist," while, structurally, she has experimented with that fine edge between prose and poetry, the prose-poem. The following interview was conducted during her April, 1985, visit to the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop.