Twain's brand
Subtitle: humor in contemporary American culture
By: Judith Yaross Lee
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Jackson
Language: eng
Number of pages: 240
ISBN-13: 9781617036439; 9781617036446
Subjects: History and criticism; American wit and humor
Description: In Twain's Brand: Humor in Contemporary American Culture, Judith Yaross Lee traces four hallmarks of Twain's humor that are especially significant today. Mark Twain's invention of a stage persona, comically conflated with his biographical self, lives on in contemporary performances by Garrison Keillor, Margaret Cho, Jerry Seinfeld, and Jon Stewart. The postcolonial critique of Britain that underlies America's nationalist tall tale tradition not only self-destructs in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court but also drives the critique of American Exceptionalism in Philip Roth's literary satires. The semiliterate writing that gives Adventures of Huckleberry Finn its "vernacular vision"--Wrapping cultural critique in ostensibly innocent transgressions and misunderstandings - has a counterpart in the apparently untutored drawing style and social critique seen in The Simpsons, Lynda Barry's comics, and The Boondocks. And the humor business of recent decades depends on the same brand-name promotion, cross-media synergy, and copyright practices that Clemens pioneered and fought for a century ago. Twain's Brand highlights the modern relationship among humor, commerce, and culture that were first exploited by Mark Twain."--Back cover.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Twain's brand and the modern mood; title: Standing up: the self-made comedian; title: Humor and empire; title: Kid stuff: the vernacular vision and the visual; title: Vernacular; title: Comic brands: more than funny business.