LIN 591: SYLLABUS: Satire, Irony, and Gallows Humor; Spring, 1999:

INSTRUCTOR: Don L. F. Nilsen; Line # ?; Fridays: 11:40-2:30 PM; OFFICE: LLC 243; OFFICE HOURS: MTWTh: 8:30-9:30; F: 2:30-3:30, email: don.nilsen@asu.edu

NOTE: THIS COURSE COUNTS AS A SEMINAR FOR LINGUISTICS, TESL, RHETORIC, AND ENGLISH LITERATURE GRADUATE STUDENTS!

Required Texts

Grades

SATIRE, IRONY, AND GALLOWS HUMOR LENDING LIBRARY

Assignments

REQUIRED TEXTS:

  • Berger, Arthur Asa. The Art of Comedy Writing. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1997.
  • Brack, 0. M. Jr., Ed. American Humor. Scottsdale, AZ: Arete Publications, 1977. TO BE PROVIDED BY INSTRUCTOR.
  • Nilsen, Don L. F. LIN 591: Linguistics Packet. Available at Alpha Graphics (122 East University, Tempe, AZ) .

GRADES: There are five grades in the course:

  • l. The research paper about some aspect of Satire, Irony, and/or Gallows Humor (about 10 pages)
  • 2. The midsemester examination
  • 3. Oral Presentation (same subject as research paper), accompanied by a one-page class handout; make sure you have enough handouts for everyone, and make sure your name appears on the handout.
  • 4. Five-page paper about the significant insights, patterns, connections, and trends of the Lin 591 Oral Presentations.
  • 5. The final examination

SATIRE, IRONY, AND GALLOWS HUMOR LENDING LIBRARY:

  • Dane, Joseph A. Parody: Critical Concepts Versus Literary Practices: Aristophanes to Sterne. Norman, OK: Univ of Oklahoma Press, 1988.
  • Davis, Jessica Milner. Farce. New York, NY: Harper and Row, 1978.
  • Falletta, Nicholas. The Paradoxicon. New York, NY: John Wiley, 1983.
  • Friedman, Bruce J., ed. Black Humor. New York, NY: Bantam, 1965.
  • Gates, Henry Lewis, Jr. The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literature Criticism. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1988.
  • Good, Edwin M. Irony in the Old Testament. Sheffield, England: Almond Press, 1981.
  • Graff, Gerald, and Barbara Heldt. Parodies, Etcetera and So Forth. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1978.
  • Hall, David L. Eros and Irony: A Prelude to Philosophical Anarchism. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1982.
  • Handwerk, Gary J. Irony and Ethics in Narrative. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1985.
  • Hutcheon, Linda. A Theory of Parody: The Teachings of Twentieth-Century Art Forms. New York, NY: Methuen, 1985.
  • Kiley. Frederick, and J. M. Shuttleworth, eds. Satire: From Aesop to Buchwald. New York, NY: Macmillan, 1971.
  • Lang, Candace D. Irony/Humor: Critical Paradigms. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988.
  • Lurie, Alison. Don't Tell the Grown-Ups: The Subversive Element in Children's Literature. New York, NY: Avon, 1990.
  • Muecke, D. C. The Compass of Irony. London, England, Methuen, 1969.
  • Nilsen, Don L. F. "Bibliography on Gallows Humor (Includes Disgusting, Grotesque, Sick, Subversive, Obscene, Politically Incorrect, Black, and Tragicomic Humor"
  • Nilsen, Don L. F. "Bibliography on Irony"
  • Nilsen, Don L. F. "Bibliography on Paradox"
  • Nilsen, Don L. F. "Bibliography on Parody, Spoof, and Burlesque"
  • Nilsen, Don L. F. "Bibliography on Satire and Farce"
  • Nilsen, Don L. F. Humor in British Literature, from the Middle Ages to the Restoration: A Reference Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1997.
  • Nilsen, Don L. F. Humor in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century British Literature: A Reference Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1998.
  • Nilsen, Don L. F. Humor in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century British Literature: A Reference Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1998.
  • Nilsen, Don L. F. Humor in Irish Literature: A Reference Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996.
  • Pratt, Alan R. Black Humor: Critical Essays. New York, NY: Garland, 1993.
  • Schiffrin, Deborah. Approaches to Discourse. Oxford, England, 1994.
  • Test, George A. Satire: Spirit and Art. Tampa, FL: Univ of South Florida Press, 1991.
  • Traugott, Elizabeth Closs, and Mary Louise Pratt. Linguistics for Students of Literature. New York, NY: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1980.

ASSIGNMENTS: NOTE THAT DATE INDICATES WHEN ASSIGNMENTS ARE DUE!

Fri, Jan 22:

Introduction, and Overview of the Course, and LIN 591 PACKET: Ironic and Satiric Archetypes and Shadow Archetypes

Fri, Jan 29

Berger 1: "Comic Techniques in Dramatic Comedies;" Berger 2: "The Braggart Captain: Miles Gloriosus;" and LIN 591 PACKET: Ninth to Fourteenth-Century Medieval Complaint, Irony and Satire

Fri, Feb 5

Berger 3: "Make What You Will of Comedy: Twelfth Night" Berger 4: "No Trusting to Appearances: The School for Scandal; and LIN 591 PACKET: Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Renaissance Irony and Satire

Fri. Feb 12

Berger 5: "The Devices of Absurdity: The Bald Soprano;" Berger 6: "Beyond Devices;" and Review for Midsemester Exam

Fri, Feb 19

Midsemester Exam: Covering Berger and LIN 591 Packet, and Handouts

Fri, Feb 26

Brack 1: "Black Humor and the Mass Audience" (1-11) by Hamlin Hill; and Gallows Humor; and Brack 2: "Anything Goes: Comic Aspects in 'The Cask of Amontillado'" (13-26) by John Clendenning; LIN 591 PACKET: Seventeenth-Century Restoration Irony and Satire

Fri, March 5

Brack 3: "Melville's The Confidence-Man: The Structure of Satire (27-41) by Alexander C. Kern and "Satire: The Necessary and Sufficient Conditions" contrasted with "Gallows Humor"; and Brack 4: "John Wilford Overall's Southern Punch: Humor in the Rebel Capital" (41-58) LIN 591 PACKET: Eighteenth-Century and Enlightenment Irony and Satire

Fri, March 12

RESEARCH PAPERS ARE DUE ON FRIDAY, MARCH, 26; Brack 5: "Huck Finn after Huck Finn" (59-72) by Claude M. Simpson Jr., and "Mark Twain's 'Carnival of Crime'" (73-78) by William M.Gibson; and Brack 6: "The Showman as Hero in Mark Twain's Fiction" (79-98) by Sargent Bush, Jr." Nineteenth-Century and Bi-Polar Victorian Irony and Satire

Fri, Mar 19

SPRING RECESS: CLASSES EXCUSED

Fri, Mar 26

RESEARCH PAPERS ARE DUE TODAY; Brack 7: "Soldier's Pay and the Growth of Faulkner's Comedy" (99-118) by James M. Mellard, and Brack 8: "The Comic Element in Iowa Literature" (119-137) by Clarence A. Andrews, and Twentieth-Century Theatre of the Absurd, and Gallows Humor
ORAL PRESENTATION:
ORAL PRESENTATION:
ORAL PRESENTATION:

Fri, April 2

Brack 9: "Katherine Anne Porter: The Low Comedy of Sex" (139- 152) by Michael Gessel, and Brack 10: "Russell Wayne Baker" (153-170) by Woodford A. Heflin, and Gender Issues in Irony, Satire, and Gallows Humor
ORAL PRESENTATION:
ORAL PRESENTATION:
ORAL PRESENTATION:

Fri, April 9

Brack 11: "The Sanity of Mad" (171-188) by John G. Cawelti and Irony, Satire, and Gallows Humor in Movies, Sit-Corns, and other Popular Entertainment
ORAL PRESENTATION:
ORAL PRESENTATION:
ORAL PRESENTATION:

Fri, April 16

Parody
ORAL PRESENTATION:
ORAL PRESENTATION:
ORAL PRESENTATION:

Fri, April 23

Paradox
ORAL PRESENTATION:
ORAL PRESENTATION:
ORAL PRESENTATION:

Fri, April 30

Farce
ORAL PRESENTATION:
ORAL PRESENTATION:
ORAL PRESENTATION:

Wed, May 5

READING DAY

Fri, May 7

FINAL EXAMINATION

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