Ladies Laughing: Wit as Control in Contemporary American Women Writers

ISBN-13: 9789056995430 / Angielski / Miękka / 1997 / 194 str.

Barbara Levy;Barbara Levy

Opis

This engaging and accessible book examines the world of seven contemporary, popular American women writers and their individual use of wit as a subtle and effective strategy to engage, or "control", the reader. A chapter is devoted to each of the seven writers - Lisa Alther, Rita Mae Brown, Nora Ephron, Shirley Jackson, Alison Lurier, Grace Paley, and Anne Tyler - and discusses their writings and their use of wit in the context of their lives. An opening chapter frames wit and control in psychological realities, and a concluding chapter summarizes the power of wit. A bibliography of the writers' works is also included, making this an ideal introduction and companion to these writers and their works.

Spis treści

Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 Forerunners: Dorothy Parker, Dawn Powell, Betty MacDonald; Chapter 3 Nora Ephron: All You Ever Wanted to Know About Control…. (But feared you’d appear too manipulative if you asked); Chapter 4 Shirley Jackson: “In the country of the story, the writer is King.”; Chapter 5 Alison Lurie: “Writing was a Kind of Witch’s Spell”; Chapter 6 Grace Paley: The Ear is Smarter than the Eye; Chapter 7 Anne Tyler: Seeing Through a “Mist of Irony”; Chapter 8 Lisa Alther: Playing for the Laugh: Comic Control in Kinflicks; Chapter 9 Rita Mae Brown: “An Equal Opportunity Offender”; Chapter 10 Conclusion: What Wit Controlled;

O autorze

Barbara Levy