The comedian as confidence man : studies in irony fatigue /
The Comedian as Confidence Man examines the humorist's internal conflict between the social critic who demands to be taken seriously and the comedian who never can be: the irony fatigue condition. Concentrating on eight American literary and performing comedians from the eighteenth, nineteenth,...
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| Online Access: |
Full text (MCPHS users only) |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Detroit :
Wayne State University Press,
2019
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| Series: | Humor in life and letters.
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| Subjects: | |
| Local Note: | ProQuest Ebook Central |
| Summary: | The Comedian as Confidence Man examines the humorist's internal conflict between the social critic who demands to be taken seriously and the comedian who never can be: the irony fatigue condition. Concentrating on eight American literary and performing comedians from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, this study explores the irony fatigue effect that seems to pervade the work of comedians - those particular social observers who are under the implicit injunction, "Smile when you say that." They are obliged to promise, "Only kidding, folks," even when they may not be; in G.B. Shaw's words, they must "put things in such a way as to make people who would otherwise hang them believe they are joking." |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (270 pages) |
| ISBN: | 9780814346808 0814346804 |
| Source of Description, Etc. Note: | Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on November 11, 2019). |
