Comedy: Renaissance and Now

Catalog description

What makes us laugh? What made people laugh in the past, and how has it changed? This course will take a long view of comedy, juxtaposing its great popularity in early modern England with its appeal in the present day. Beginning with Shakespeare's comedies of mistaken identity, we will grapple along the way with the diverse pleasures offered by clowns, jokes, satire, the Simpsons, and television sitcoms. Readings will explore how and why humor works and consider themes such as the nature of identity, cruelty and physical comedy, the potential of humor for political critique, and what it means to take pleasure (or discomfort) from a literary or artistic object. (ENGL-PRE)