A Very Serious Thing: Women's Humor and American Culture Volume 2

by Nancy A. Walker

Book Overview

A Very Serious Thing was first published in 1988. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions.

"It is a very serious thing to be a funny woman." -Frances Miriam Berry Whitcher

A Very Serious Thing is the first book-length study of a part of American literature that has been consistently...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0816617031
• ISBN13: 9780816617036
• Release Date: November 1988
• Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
• Length: 248 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Great Book

Loved it. Sad to research and find out that Nancy Walker is no longer alive. I wanted to call and thank her for writing this.

There IS a difference.

Why is the class clown usually a boy? Why does everyone laugh when guys tell fart and booger jokes, but if a woman tells the same jokes, the jokes fall flat? Why do women value a sense of humor in a man, but men rarely mention it as important in their ideal woman? Imagine a woman writing a Dave Barry-style column--it wouldn't work. There IS a difference. Nancy Walker's book really connected with me. I learned about women humorists writing at the same time Mark Twain was, about the minority aspects of humor, and why women are reluctant to appear funny to men, but not to each other. For a scholarly book, this was a fun (and funny) read.