First published in 1988, the 19 original essays (and three "Sylvia" cartoons) included in this volume deal with the gender-specific nature of comedy. This pioneering collection observes the creation of women’s comedy from a wide range of standpoints: political, sociological, psychoanalytical, linguistic, and historical. The writers explore the role of women’s comedy in familiar and unfamiliar territory, from Austen to Weldon, from Behn to Wasserstein. The questions they raise will lead to a redefinition of the genre itself.
Part I Sylvia Nicole Hollander Introduction Regina Barreca Who Was That Masked Woman? The Prostitute and the Playwright in the Comedies of Aphra Behn Catherine Gallagher Life After Sex: The Fictional Autobiography of Delariver Manley Janet Todd Jane Austen: Irony and Authority Rachel M. Brownstein Austen’s Laughter Patricia Meyer Spacks Deflation of Male Pretensions in Fanny Burney’s Cecelia Kay Rogers Part II Sylvia Nicole Hollander Frances Miriam Whitcher: Social Satire in the Age of Gentility Linda A. Morris Hate and Humor as Empathetic Whimsy in Anne Thackeray Ritchie Carol Hanbery MacKay Between Women: A Cross-Class Analysis of Status and Anarchic Humor Regenia Gagnier Slaying the Angel and the Patriarch: The Grinning Woolf Denise Marshall (En)gendering Laughter: Woolf’s Orlando as Contraband in the Age of Joyce Judy Little Truth-Telling: The Self and the Fictions of Humor Mary Ann Rorison Caws Part III Sylvia Nicole Hollander Ironic Autobiography: From The Waterfall to The Handmaid’s Tale, Nancy Walker Muriel Spark’s Unknowing Fiction John Glavin Metaphor-into-Narrative: Being Very Careful with Words Regina Barreca Uncommon Woman: An Interview with Wendy Wasserstein Esther Cohen Feminist Humor: Rebellious and Self-Affirming Lisa Merrill Daughters of Anger/Material Girls: Con/Textualizing Feminist Criticism Jane Marcus Towards a Humorous View of the Universe Fay Weldon. About the Contributors. Index.
Biography
Regina Barreca, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of English Literature at The University of Connecticut.
'It is good to have this volume readily available again'
- Margaret D. Stetz, University of Delaware
