ENGL478A Comedy and Cruelty

Cruel ridicule and gleeful schadenfreude are common across many domains of contemporary life, including mainstream political culture and the digital public sphere. This course investigates the long history of this problem, going back as far as the early modern period and forward to recent novels, essays, speeches, and films. What is the role of suffering in comic experience? Under what circumstances do authors and audiences feel permitted to laugh in response to misfortune or calamity? What political purposes does unsympathetic laughter serve? Readings will include such authors as François Rabelais, William Shakespeare, María de Zayas, John Donne, Aphra Behn, Amos Tutuola, Ernst Lubitsch, and Virginie Despentes.

Prerequisite: Two English courses in literature; or permission of ARHU-English department.
Repeatable to 9 credits if content differs.

Section(s):
0101 - David Carroll Simon

Schedule of Classes
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