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American Humor in Literature and Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 May 2020

William Hill Jr  and
Dennis Lape
William Hill Jr
Affiliation:
Roanoke College
Dennis Lape
Affiliation:
Roanoke College
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Extract

The lights dim. The students stir nervously, not sure of what to expect of the strobe light and the background music from "Thriller." The student course guide had recommended American Humor in Literature and Politics, but no one had been able to locate a living survivor to provide a personal testimony. Two middle-aged men of spacious girths enter the room and begin calling the roll. One looks like he might be a Democrat. The other one doesn't. As they alternate calling student names, crack terrible puns, and climb in and out of fright wigs and false noses, it begins to dawn on the class why no Ishmael has stepped forward to tell the story of American Humor.

Type
Research Article
Information
News for Teachers of Political Science , Volume 46 , Summer 1985 , pp. 4 - 6
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1985

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References

Bibliography

Allen, Steve. Funny People. New York: Stein and Day, 1984.Google Scholar
Blair, Walter, ed. Native American Humor. New York: Harper and Row, 1960.Google Scholar
Blair, Walter and Hill, Hamlin. America's Humor. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978.Google Scholar
Cohen, Sarah Blancher, ed. Comic Relief: Humor in Contemporary American Literature. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978.Google Scholar
Corrigan, Robert W., ed. Comedy: Meaning and Form. New York: Harper Row, 1981.Google Scholar
Dorson, Richard M.America Begins. Greenwich, Connecticut: Fawcett, 1950.Google Scholar
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Harris, Leon A.The Fine Art of Political Wit. New York: E. P. Dutton and Co., 1964.Google Scholar
Hess, Stephen and Kaplan, Milton. The Ungentlemanly Art: A History of American Political Cartoons. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1975.Google Scholar
Holliday, Carl. The Wit and Humor of Colonial Days. Williamstown, Massachusetts: Corner House Publishers, 1975.Google Scholar
Leacock, Stephen. The Greatest Pages of American Humor. Garden City, New York: The Sun Dial Press, 1936.Google Scholar
Lynn, Kenneth S., ed. The Comic Tradition in America. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1958.Google Scholar
Nelson, Roy Paul. Cartooning. Chicago: Contemporary Books, Inc., 1975.Google Scholar
Rourke, Constance. American Humor: A Study of the National Character. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1931.Google Scholar
Rubin, Louis D. Jr., ed. The Comic Imagination in American Literature. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1973.Google Scholar
Schmitz, Neil. Of Huck and Alice: Humorous Writing in American Literature. Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press, 1983.Google Scholar
Schutz, Charles. Political Humor From Aristophanes to Sam Ervin. Cranberry, New Jersey: Associated University Press, 1977.Google Scholar
Veron, Enid, ed. Humor in America. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1976.Google Scholar
Wilder, Marshall P., ed. The Wit and Humor of America, 10 vols. New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1907.Google Scholar
Yates, Norris W.The American Humorist: Conscience of the Twentieth Century Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University Press, 1964.Google Scholar
Clark, Ronald W.Benjamin Franklin: A Biography. New York: Random House, 1983.Google Scholar
Franklin, Benjamin. Satires and Hoaxes of Dr. Benjamin Franklin. Mount Vernon, New York: Peter Pauper Press, 1935.Google Scholar
Haliburton, Thomas Chandler. The Clockmaker; or, The Sayings and Doings of Samuel Slick of Slickville. New York: Leviathan Press, 1927.Google Scholar
Twain, Mark. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. New York: American Library, 1963.Google Scholar
Cohen, Hennig and Dillingham, William B., ed. Humor of the Old Southwest. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 1964.Google Scholar
Hudson, Arthur Palmer, ed. Humor of the Old Deep South. New York: Macmillan Company, 1936.Google Scholar
Inge, M. Thomas, ed. The Frontier Humorists. Hamden, Connecticut: Archon (The Shoestring Press Inc.), 1975.Google Scholar
Kenney, W. Howland. Laughter in the Wilderness: Early American Humor to 1783. Kent State University Press, 1976.Google Scholar
Lynn, Kenneth S.Mark Twain and Southwestern Humor. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1972.Google Scholar
Meine, Franklin J., ed. Tall Tales of The Southwest. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1937.Google Scholar
Shaw, Henry W, . The Complete Works of Josh Billings. Chicago: M. A. Donohue and Company, 1919.Google Scholar
Mark, Twain. Huckleberry Finn. New York: W. W. Norton, 1977.Google Scholar
Twain, Mark. Life on the Mississippi. New York: Bantam Books, 1981.Google Scholar
Twain, Mark. Roughing It. New York: New American Library, 1962.Google Scholar
Blair, Walter. Horse Sense in American Humor. New York: Russell and Russell, 1942.Google Scholar
Browne, Charles F. (Artemus Ward). The Complete Works of Charles F. Brown Better Known as “Artemus Ward” London: Chatto and Windus.Google Scholar
House, Brant. Lincoln's Wit. New York: Ace Books, Inc., 1958.Google Scholar
Keillor, Garrison. Happy to be Here. New York: Penguin Books, 1981.Google Scholar
Keller, Marton. The Art and Politics of Thomas Nast London: Oxford University Press, 1968.Google Scholar
Lowell, James Russell. “The Biglow Papers.” The Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1895.Google Scholar
Nye, Bill and Hasley, Louis, ed. The Best of Bill Nye's Humor. New Haven, Connecticut: College and University Press, 1972.Google Scholar
Rogers, Will. The Illiterate Digest. New York: Albert and Charles Boni, 1924.Google Scholar
Rogers, Will and Stout, Joseph A., ed. Convention Articles of Will Rogers. Stillwater: Oklahoma State University Press, 1976.Google Scholar
Rosten, Leo. The Joys of Yiddish. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968.Google Scholar
St. Hill, Thomas Nast. Thomas Nast. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1974.Google Scholar
Sterling, Bryan B.The Best of Will Rogers. New York: Crown, 1979.Google Scholar
Sterling, Bryan B. and Sterling, Frances N., ed. A Will Rogers Treasury: Reflections and Observations. New York: Crown, 1982.Google Scholar
Adler, Bill, ed. The Washington Wits. New York: MacMillan Company, 1967.Google Scholar
Astro, Richard. John Steinbeck and Edward F. Ricketts: The Shaping of a Novelist. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1973.Google Scholar
Bierce, Ambrose. The Devil's Dictionary. New York: Albert & Charles Boni, 1926.Google Scholar
Blount, Roy Jr. Crackers. New York: Ballantine Books, 1977.Google Scholar
Bouer, Paul F. Jr. Presidential Anecdotes. New York: Penguin, 1981.Google Scholar
Buchwald, Art. I Am Not A Crook. New York: Fawcett Crest, 1973.Google ScholarPubMed
Caldwell, Erskine. Tobacco Road. New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1932Google Scholar
de T. Gingras, Angelle. The Best in Congressional Humor. Washington, D.C.: Acropolis, 1973.Google Scholar
Ervin, Sam J. Jr. Humor of a Country Lawyer. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1983.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jenkins, Dan. Baja Oklahoma. New York: Pocket Books, 1981.Google Scholar
Kiernan, Thomas. The Intricate Music: A Biography of John Steinbeck. Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown and Company, 1979.Google Scholar
King, Larry L.Of Outlaws, Con Men, Whores, Politicians and Other Artists. New York: The Viking Press, 1973.Google Scholar
Koon, George William, ed. A Collection of Classic Southern Humor. Atlanta: Peachtree Publishers, Inc., 1984.Google Scholar
Lewis, Sinclair. Babbitt. New York: New American Library, 1922.Google Scholar
Mencken, H.L.The Vintage Mencken. New York: Vintage Books, 1956.Google Scholar
Parker, John F.The Fun and Laughter of Politics. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1978.Google Scholar
Schorer, Mark. Sinclair Lewis, An American Life. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1961.Google Scholar
Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men and Cannery Row. New York: Penguin Books, 1937, 1945.Google Scholar
Steinbeck, John. Sweet Thursday.: Penguin Books, 1935.Google Scholar
Tandy, Jennette. Crackerbox Philosophers in American Humor and Satire. Port Washington, New York: Kennikat Press, 1925.Google Scholar
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York American Library, 1959.Google Scholar
Ade, George. The America of George Ade, ed., Shepherd, Jean. New York: Capricorn Books, 1961.Google Scholar
Block, Herbert. Herblock on All Fronts. New York: New American Library, 1980.Google Scholar
Block, Herbert. The Herblock Gallery. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1964.Google Scholar
Feiffer, Jules. Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1956.Google Scholar
Feiffer, Jules. Sick Sick Sick. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1956.Google Scholar
Gill, Brendan. Here at the New Yorker. New York: Berkeley Publishing Corporation, 1975.Google Scholar
Hauck, Richard Boyd. A Cheerful Nihilism: Confidence and “The Absurd” In American Humorous Fiction. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1971.Google Scholar
Heller, Joseph. Catch-22. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1955.Google Scholar
Heller, Steven, ed. Jules Feiffer's America: From Eisenhower to Reagan. New York: Knopf, 1982.Google Scholar
Holmes, Charles S.The Clocks of Columbus: The Literary Career of James Thurber. New York: Atheneum, 1972.Google Scholar
Marquis, Don. Archy and Mehitabel. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1927.Google Scholar
Mauldin, Bill. The Brass Ring. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1971.Google Scholar
Mauldin, Bill. Up Front. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1945.Google Scholar
Mauldin, Bill. What's Got Your Back Up? New York: Popular Library, 1961.Google Scholar
Thurber, James. The Thurber Carnival. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1931.Google Scholar
Thurber, James. The Years With Ross. Boston: Little, Brown, 1959.Google Scholar
Trudeau, G. B.The Doonesbury Chronicles. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970.Google Scholar
Westin, Alan, F., ed. Getting Angry Six Times a Week: A Portfolio of Political Cartoons. Boston: Beacon Press, 1979.Google Scholar
Allen, Woody. Getting Even. New York: Vintage Press, 1966.Google Scholar
Allen, Woody. Side Effects. New York: Ballantine Books, 1975.Google Scholar
Dooley, Martin. Mr. Dooley In Peace and In War. Boston: Small, Maynard, and Company, 1898.Google Scholar
Dunne, Finley Peter. Mr. Dooley's Philosophy. New York: R. H. Russell, 1900.Google Scholar
Harris, Joel Chandler. Uncle Remus. New York: Grosset and Dunlap. 1880.Google Scholar
Heller, Joseph. Good as Gold. New York: Pocket Books, 1976.Google Scholar
Toole, John Kennedy. A Confederacy of Dunces. New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1980.Google Scholar
Wolfe, Tom. The Purple Decades: A Reader. New York: Farrar Strauss Giroux, 1982.Google Scholar
Allen, Steve. Funny People. New York: Stein and Day, 1984.Google Scholar
Blair, Walter, ed. Native American Humor. New York: Harper and Row, 1960.Google Scholar
Blair, Walter and Hill, Hamlin. America's Humor. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978.Google Scholar
Cohen, Sarah Blancher, ed. Comic Relief: Humor in Contemporary American Literature. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978.Google Scholar
Corrigan, Robert W., ed. Comedy: Meaning and Form. New York: Harper Row, 1981.Google Scholar
Dorson, Richard M.America Begins. Greenwich, Connecticut: Fawcett, 1950.Google Scholar
Goldstein, Jeffrey H. and McGhee, Paul E., ed. The Psychology of Humor: Theoretical Perspectives and Empirical Issues. New York: Academic Press, 1972.Google Scholar
Harris, Leon A.The Fine Art of Political Wit. New York: E. P. Dutton and Co., 1964.Google Scholar
Hess, Stephen and Kaplan, Milton. The Ungentlemanly Art: A History of American Political Cartoons. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1975.Google Scholar
Holliday, Carl. The Wit and Humor of Colonial Days. Williamstown, Massachusetts: Corner House Publishers, 1975.Google Scholar
Leacock, Stephen. The Greatest Pages of American Humor. Garden City, New York: The Sun Dial Press, 1936.Google Scholar
Lynn, Kenneth S., ed. The Comic Tradition in America. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1958.Google Scholar
Nelson, Roy Paul. Cartooning. Chicago: Contemporary Books, Inc., 1975.Google Scholar
Rourke, Constance. American Humor: A Study of the National Character. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1931.Google Scholar
Rubin, Louis D. Jr., ed. The Comic Imagination in American Literature. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1973.Google Scholar
Schmitz, Neil. Of Huck and Alice: Humorous Writing in American Literature. Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press, 1983.Google Scholar
Schutz, Charles. Political Humor From Aristophanes to Sam Ervin. Cranberry, New Jersey: Associated University Press, 1977.Google Scholar
Veron, Enid, ed. Humor in America. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1976.Google Scholar
Wilder, Marshall P., ed. The Wit and Humor of America, 10 vols. New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1907.Google Scholar
Yates, Norris W.The American Humorist: Conscience of the Twentieth Century Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University Press, 1964.Google Scholar
Clark, Ronald W.Benjamin Franklin: A Biography. New York: Random House, 1983.Google Scholar
Franklin, Benjamin. Satires and Hoaxes of Dr. Benjamin Franklin. Mount Vernon, New York: Peter Pauper Press, 1935.Google Scholar
Haliburton, Thomas Chandler. The Clockmaker; or, The Sayings and Doings of Samuel Slick of Slickville. New York: Leviathan Press, 1927.Google Scholar
Twain, Mark. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. New York: American Library, 1963.Google Scholar
Cohen, Hennig and Dillingham, William B., ed. Humor of the Old Southwest. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 1964.Google Scholar
Hudson, Arthur Palmer, ed. Humor of the Old Deep South. New York: Macmillan Company, 1936.Google Scholar
Inge, M. Thomas, ed. The Frontier Humorists. Hamden, Connecticut: Archon (The Shoestring Press Inc.), 1975.Google Scholar
Kenney, W. Howland. Laughter in the Wilderness: Early American Humor to 1783. Kent State University Press, 1976.Google Scholar
Lynn, Kenneth S.Mark Twain and Southwestern Humor. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1972.Google Scholar
Meine, Franklin J., ed. Tall Tales of The Southwest. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1937.Google Scholar
Shaw, Henry W, . The Complete Works of Josh Billings. Chicago: M. A. Donohue and Company, 1919.Google Scholar
Mark, Twain. Huckleberry Finn. New York: W. W. Norton, 1977.Google Scholar
Twain, Mark. Life on the Mississippi. New York: Bantam Books, 1981.Google Scholar
Twain, Mark. Roughing It. New York: New American Library, 1962.Google Scholar
Blair, Walter. Horse Sense in American Humor. New York: Russell and Russell, 1942.Google Scholar
Browne, Charles F. (Artemus Ward). The Complete Works of Charles F. Brown Better Known as “Artemus Ward” London: Chatto and Windus.Google Scholar
House, Brant. Lincoln's Wit. New York: Ace Books, Inc., 1958.Google Scholar
Keillor, Garrison. Happy to be Here. New York: Penguin Books, 1981.Google Scholar
Keller, Marton. The Art and Politics of Thomas Nast London: Oxford University Press, 1968.Google Scholar
Lowell, James Russell. “The Biglow Papers.” The Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1895.Google Scholar
Nye, Bill and Hasley, Louis, ed. The Best of Bill Nye's Humor. New Haven, Connecticut: College and University Press, 1972.Google Scholar
Rogers, Will. The Illiterate Digest. New York: Albert and Charles Boni, 1924.Google Scholar
Rogers, Will and Stout, Joseph A., ed. Convention Articles of Will Rogers. Stillwater: Oklahoma State University Press, 1976.Google Scholar
Rosten, Leo. The Joys of Yiddish. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968.Google Scholar
St. Hill, Thomas Nast. Thomas Nast. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1974.Google Scholar
Sterling, Bryan B.The Best of Will Rogers. New York: Crown, 1979.Google Scholar
Sterling, Bryan B. and Sterling, Frances N., ed. A Will Rogers Treasury: Reflections and Observations. New York: Crown, 1982.Google Scholar
Adler, Bill, ed. The Washington Wits. New York: MacMillan Company, 1967.Google Scholar
Astro, Richard. John Steinbeck and Edward F. Ricketts: The Shaping of a Novelist. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1973.Google Scholar
Bierce, Ambrose. The Devil's Dictionary. New York: Albert & Charles Boni, 1926.Google Scholar
Blount, Roy Jr. Crackers. New York: Ballantine Books, 1977.Google Scholar
Bouer, Paul F. Jr. Presidential Anecdotes. New York: Penguin, 1981.Google Scholar
Buchwald, Art. I Am Not A Crook. New York: Fawcett Crest, 1973.Google ScholarPubMed
Caldwell, Erskine. Tobacco Road. New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1932Google Scholar
de T. Gingras, Angelle. The Best in Congressional Humor. Washington, D.C.: Acropolis, 1973.Google Scholar
Ervin, Sam J. Jr. Humor of a Country Lawyer. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1983.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jenkins, Dan. Baja Oklahoma. New York: Pocket Books, 1981.Google Scholar
Kiernan, Thomas. The Intricate Music: A Biography of John Steinbeck. Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown and Company, 1979.Google Scholar
King, Larry L.Of Outlaws, Con Men, Whores, Politicians and Other Artists. New York: The Viking Press, 1973.Google Scholar
Koon, George William, ed. A Collection of Classic Southern Humor. Atlanta: Peachtree Publishers, Inc., 1984.Google Scholar
Lewis, Sinclair. Babbitt. New York: New American Library, 1922.Google Scholar
Mencken, H.L.The Vintage Mencken. New York: Vintage Books, 1956.Google Scholar
Parker, John F.The Fun and Laughter of Politics. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1978.Google Scholar
Schorer, Mark. Sinclair Lewis, An American Life. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1961.Google Scholar
Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men and Cannery Row. New York: Penguin Books, 1937, 1945.Google Scholar
Steinbeck, John. Sweet Thursday.: Penguin Books, 1935.Google Scholar
Tandy, Jennette. Crackerbox Philosophers in American Humor and Satire. Port Washington, New York: Kennikat Press, 1925.Google Scholar
Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York American Library, 1959.Google Scholar
Ade, George. The America of George Ade, ed., Shepherd, Jean. New York: Capricorn Books, 1961.Google Scholar
Block, Herbert. Herblock on All Fronts. New York: New American Library, 1980.Google Scholar
Block, Herbert. The Herblock Gallery. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1964.Google Scholar
Feiffer, Jules. Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1956.Google Scholar
Feiffer, Jules. Sick Sick Sick. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1956.Google Scholar
Gill, Brendan. Here at the New Yorker. New York: Berkeley Publishing Corporation, 1975.Google Scholar
Hauck, Richard Boyd. A Cheerful Nihilism: Confidence and “The Absurd” In American Humorous Fiction. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1971.Google Scholar
Heller, Joseph. Catch-22. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1955.Google Scholar
Heller, Steven, ed. Jules Feiffer's America: From Eisenhower to Reagan. New York: Knopf, 1982.Google Scholar
Holmes, Charles S.The Clocks of Columbus: The Literary Career of James Thurber. New York: Atheneum, 1972.Google Scholar
Marquis, Don. Archy and Mehitabel. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1927.Google Scholar
Mauldin, Bill. The Brass Ring. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1971.Google Scholar
Mauldin, Bill. Up Front. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1945.Google Scholar
Mauldin, Bill. What's Got Your Back Up? New York: Popular Library, 1961.Google Scholar
Thurber, James. The Thurber Carnival. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1931.Google Scholar
Thurber, James. The Years With Ross. Boston: Little, Brown, 1959.Google Scholar
Trudeau, G. B.The Doonesbury Chronicles. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970.Google Scholar
Westin, Alan, F., ed. Getting Angry Six Times a Week: A Portfolio of Political Cartoons. Boston: Beacon Press, 1979.Google Scholar
Allen, Woody. Getting Even. New York: Vintage Press, 1966.Google Scholar
Allen, Woody. Side Effects. New York: Ballantine Books, 1975.Google Scholar
Dooley, Martin. Mr. Dooley In Peace and In War. Boston: Small, Maynard, and Company, 1898.Google Scholar
Dunne, Finley Peter. Mr. Dooley's Philosophy. New York: R. H. Russell, 1900.Google Scholar
Harris, Joel Chandler. Uncle Remus. New York: Grosset and Dunlap. 1880.Google Scholar
Heller, Joseph. Good as Gold. New York: Pocket Books, 1976.Google Scholar
Toole, John Kennedy. A Confederacy of Dunces. New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1980.Google Scholar
Wolfe, Tom. The Purple Decades: A Reader. New York: Farrar Strauss Giroux, 1982.Google Scholar