Irony in the Age of Empire
Subtitle: Comic Perspectives on Democracy and Freedom (American Philosophy)
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: July 2008
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 176
ISBN-13: 9780253219947
Subjects: Social & political philosophy; General; Ethics & Moral Philosophy; Political; Philosophy; Comedy; Political aspects; Social aspects; United States
Description: "Comedy, from social ridicule to the unruly laughter of the carnival, provides effective tools for reinforcing social patterns of domination as well as weapons for emancipation. In Irony in the Age of Empire, Cynthia Willett asks: What could embody liberation better than laughter? Why do the oppressed laugh? What vision does the comic world prescribe? For Willett, the comic trumps standard liberal accounts of freedom by drawing attention to bodies, affects, and intimate relationships, topics which are usually neglected by political philosophy. Willett's philosophical reflection on comedy issues a powerful challenge to standard conceptions of freedom by proposing a new kind of freedom that is unapologetically feminist, queer, and multiracial"--Publisher description.