Course

LIN 591: SYLLABUS: Satire, Irony, and Gallows Humor; Spring, 1999:

INSTRUCTOR: Don L. F. Nilsen; Line # ?; Fridays: 11:40-2:30 PM; OFFICE: LLC 243; OFFICE HOURS: MTWTh: 8:30-9:30; F: 2:30-3:30, email:

NOTE: THIS COURSE COUNTS AS A SEMINAR FOR LINGUISTICS, TESL, RHETORIC, AND ENGLISH LITERATURE GRADUATE STUDENTS!

Required Texts

Grades

SATIRE, IRONY, AND GALLOWS HUMOR LENDING LIBRARY

Assignments

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Berger, Arthur Asa. The Art of Comedy Writing. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1997.
Brack, 0. M. Jr., Ed. American Humor. Scottsdale, AZ: Arete Publications, 1977. TO BE PROVIDED BY INSTRUCTOR.
Nilsen, Don L. F. LIN 591: Linguistics Packet. Available at Alpha Graphics (122 East University, Tempe, AZ) .

GRADES: There are five grades in the course:

l. The research paper about some aspect of Satire, Irony, and/or Gallows Humor (about 10 pages)
2. The midsemester examination
3. Oral Presentation (same subject as research paper), accompanied by a one-page class handout; make sure you have enough handouts for everyone, and make sure your name appears on the handout.
4. Five-page paper about the significant insights, patterns, connections, and trends of the Lin 591 Oral Presentations.
5. The final examination

SATIRE, IRONY, AND GALLOWS HUMOR LENDING LIBRARY:

Dane, Joseph A. Parody: Critical Concepts Versus Literary Practices: Aristophanes to Sterne. Norman, OK: Univ of Oklahoma Press, 1988.
Davis, Jessica Milner. Farce. New York, NY: Harper and Row, 1978.
Falletta, Nicholas. The Paradoxicon. New York, NY: John Wiley, 1983.
Friedman, Bruce J., ed. Black Humor. New York, NY: Bantam, 1965.
Gates, Henry Lewis, Jr. The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literature Criticism. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1988.
Good, Edwin M. Irony in the Old Testament. Sheffield, England: Almond Press, 1981.
Graff, Gerald, and Barbara Heldt. Parodies, Etcetera and So Forth. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1978.
Hall, David L. Eros and Irony: A Prelude to Philosophical Anarchism. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1982.
Handwerk, Gary J. Irony and Ethics in Narrative. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1985.
Hutcheon, Linda. A Theory of Parody: The Teachings of Twentieth-Century Art Forms. New York, NY: Methuen, 1985.
Kiley. Frederick, and J. M. Shuttleworth, eds. Satire: From Aesop to Buchwald. New York, NY: Macmillan, 1971.
Lang, Candace D. Irony/Humor: Critical Paradigms. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988.
Lurie, Alison. Don't Tell the Grown-Ups: The Subversive Element in Children's Literature. New York, NY: Avon, 1990.
Muecke, D. C. The Compass of Irony. London, England, Methuen, 1969.
Nilsen, Don L. F. "Bibliography on Gallows Humor (Includes Disgusting, Grotesque, Sick, Subversive, Obscene, Politically Incorrect, Black, and Tragicomic Humor"
Nilsen, Don L. F. "Bibliography on Irony"
Nilsen, Don L. F. "Bibliography on Paradox"
Nilsen, Don L. F. "Bibliography on Parody, Spoof, and Burlesque"
Nilsen, Don L. F. "Bibliography on Satire and Farce"
Nilsen, Don L. F. Humor in British Literature, from the Middle Ages to the Restoration: A Reference Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1997.
Nilsen, Don L. F. Humor in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century British Literature: A Reference Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1998.
Nilsen, Don L. F. Humor in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century British Literature: A Reference Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1998.
Nilsen, Don L. F. Humor in Irish Literature: A Reference Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996.
Pratt, Alan R. Black Humor: Critical Essays. New York, NY: Garland, 1993.
Schiffrin, Deborah. Approaches to Discourse. Oxford, England, 1994.
Test, George A. Satire: Spirit and Art. Tampa, FL: Univ of South Florida Press, 1991.
Traugott, Elizabeth Closs, and Mary Louise Pratt. Linguistics for Students of Literature. New York, NY: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1980.

ASSIGNMENTS: NOTE THAT DATE INDICATES WHEN ASSIGNMENTS ARE DUE!

Fri, Jan 22:	Introduction, and Overview of the Course, and LIN 591 PACKET: Ironic and Satiric Archetypes and Shadow Archetypes
Fri, Jan 29	Berger 1: "Comic Techniques in Dramatic Comedies;" Berger 2: "The Braggart Captain: Miles Gloriosus;" and LIN 591 PACKET: Ninth to Fourteenth-Century Medieval Complaint, Irony and Satire
Fri, Feb 5	Berger 3: "Make What You Will of Comedy: Twelfth Night" Berger 4: "No Trusting to Appearances: The School for Scandal; and LIN 591 PACKET: Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Renaissance Irony and Satire
Fri. Feb 12	Berger 5: "The Devices of Absurdity: The Bald Soprano;" Berger 6: "Beyond Devices;" and Review for Midsemester Exam
Fri, Feb 19	Midsemester Exam: Covering Berger and LIN 591 Packet, and Handouts
Fri, Feb 26	Brack 1: "Black Humor and the Mass Audience" (1-11) by Hamlin Hill; and Gallows Humor; and Brack 2: "Anything Goes: Comic Aspects in 'The Cask of Amontillado'" (13-26) by John Clendenning; LIN 591 PACKET: Seventeenth-Century Restoration Irony and Satire
Fri, March 5	Brack 3: "Melville's The Confidence-Man: The Structure of Satire (27-41) by Alexander C. Kern and "Satire: The Necessary and Sufficient Conditions" contrasted with "Gallows Humor"; and Brack 4: "John Wilford Overall's Southern Punch: Humor in the Rebel Capital" (41-58) LIN 591 PACKET: Eighteenth-Century and Enlightenment Irony and Satire
Fri, March 12	RESEARCH PAPERS ARE DUE ON FRIDAY, MARCH, 26; Brack 5: "Huck Finn after Huck Finn" (59-72) by Claude M. Simpson Jr., and "Mark Twain's 'Carnival of Crime'" (73-78) by William M.Gibson; and Brack 6: "The Showman as Hero in Mark Twain's Fiction" (79-98) by Sargent Bush, Jr." Nineteenth-Century and Bi-Polar Victorian Irony and Satire
Fri, Mar 19	SPRING RECESS: CLASSES EXCUSED
Fri, Mar 26	RESEARCH PAPERS ARE DUE TODAY; Brack 7: "Soldier's Pay and the Growth of Faulkner's Comedy" (99-118) by James M. Mellard, and Brack 8: "The Comic Element in Iowa Literature" (119-137) by Clarence A. Andrews, and Twentieth-Century Theatre of the Absurd, and Gallows Humor ORAL PRESENTATION: ORAL PRESENTATION: ORAL PRESENTATION:
Fri, April 2	Brack 9: "Katherine Anne Porter: The Low Comedy of Sex" (139- 152) by Michael Gessel, and Brack 10: "Russell Wayne Baker" (153-170) by Woodford A. Heflin, and Gender Issues in Irony, Satire, and Gallows Humor ORAL PRESENTATION: ORAL PRESENTATION: ORAL PRESENTATION:
Fri, April 9	Brack 11: "The Sanity of Mad" (171-188) by John G. Cawelti and Irony, Satire, and Gallows Humor in Movies, Sit-Corns, and other Popular Entertainment ORAL PRESENTATION: ORAL PRESENTATION: ORAL PRESENTATION:
Fri, April 16	Parody ORAL PRESENTATION: ORAL PRESENTATION: ORAL PRESENTATION:
Fri, April 23	Paradox ORAL PRESENTATION: ORAL PRESENTATION: ORAL PRESENTATION:
Fri, April 30	Farce ORAL PRESENTATION: ORAL PRESENTATION: ORAL PRESENTATION:
Wed, May 5	READING DAY
Fri, May 7	FINAL EXAMINATION

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