The enduring legacy of Old Southwest humor
By: edited by Ed Piacentino.
Contributors: Piacentino, Edward J., 1945-
Series: Southern literary studies
Publisher: Louisiana State University Press
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Baton Rouge
Language: eng
Number of pages: 326
Subjects: American wit and humor -- Southwest, Old -- History and criticism.; American wit and humor -- Southern States -- History and criticism.; Southern States -- Intellectual life.; Southwest, Old -- Intellectual life.; Southern States -- In literature.; Southwest, Old -- In literature.
Description: The Old Southwest flourished between 1830 and 1860, but its brand of humor lives on in the writings of Mark Twain, the novels of William Faulkner, the television series The Beverly Hillbillies, the material of comedian Jeff Foxworthy, and even cyberspace, where nonsoutherners can come up to speed on subjects like hickphonics. The first book on its subject, The Enduring Legacy of Old Southwest Humor engages topics ranging from folklore to feminism to the Internet as it pays tribute to a distinctly American comic style that has continued to reinvent itself. The book begins by examining frontier southern humor as manifested in works of Faulkner, Erskine Caldwell, Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty, Woody Guthrie, Harry Crews, William Price Fox, Fred Chappell, Barry Hannah, Cormac McCarthy, and African American writers Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Ellison, Alice Walker, Ishmael Reed, and Yusef Komunyakaa. It then explores southwestern humor's legacy in popular culture--including comic strips, comedians, and sitcoms--and on the Internet.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.