This book is a thorough and precise account of how humor works in short stories, covering the main areas of linguistic analysis and beyond. It offers a model of narrative comedy that is not only interdisciplinary, but also innovative, accessible and explanatory. The volume looks at humorous narratives from a new perspective that is rendered in a clear language and supplemented by definitions of key concepts and a wealth of examples.

The book is intended to provide a definitive view of the field of humor research for both beginning and established scholars in a variety of fields who are developing an interest in humor and need to familiarize themselves with the available body of knowledge. Each chapter of the book is devoted to an important aspect of humor research or to a disciplinary approach to the field, and each is written by the leading expert or emerging scholar in that area.

There are two primary motivations for the book. The positive one is to collect and summarize the impressive body of knowledge...