Menu
×
Main Library
9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Phone: (843) 805-6930
West Ashley Library
9 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Phone: (843) 766-6635
Folly Beach Library
Closed for renovations
Phone: (843) 588-2001
John L. Dart Library
9 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Phone: (843) 722-7550
St. Paul's/Hollywood Library
9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Phone: (843) 889-3300
Mt. Pleasant Library
9 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Phone: (843) 849-6161
Dorchester Road Library
9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Phone: (843) 552-6466
Edgar Allan Poe/Sullivan's Island Library
9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Phone: (843) 883-3914
John's Island Library
9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Phone: (843) 559-1945
McClellanville Library
Closed for renovations
Phone: (843) 887-3699
Edisto Library
2 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Phone: (843) 869-2355
Wando Mount Pleasant Library
9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Phone: (843) 805-6888
Otranto Road Library
9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Phone: (843) 572-4094
Hurd/St. Andrews Library
Closed (Toddler Storytime)
Phone: (843) 766-2546
Baxter-Patrick James Island
9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Phone: (843) 795-6679
Bees Ferry West Ashley Library
9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Phone: (843) 805-6892
Village Library
9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Phone: (843) 884-9741
Keith Summey North Charleston Library
9 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Phone: (843) 744-2489
Mobile Library
9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Phone: (843) 805-6909
Today's Hours
Main Library
9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Phone: (843) 805-6930
West Ashley Library
9 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Phone: (843) 766-6635
Folly Beach Library
Closed for renovations
Phone: (843) 588-2001
John L. Dart Library
9 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Phone: (843) 722-7550
St. Paul's/Hollywood Library
9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Phone: (843) 889-3300
Mt. Pleasant Library
9 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Phone: (843) 849-6161
Dorchester Road Library
9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Phone: (843) 552-6466
Edgar Allan Poe/Sullivan's Island Library
9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Phone: (843) 883-3914
John's Island Library
9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Phone: (843) 559-1945
McClellanville Library
Closed for renovations
Phone: (843) 887-3699
Edisto Library
2 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Phone: (843) 869-2355
Wando Mount Pleasant Library
9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Phone: (843) 805-6888
Otranto Road Library
9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Phone: (843) 572-4094
Hurd/St. Andrews Library
Closed (Toddler Storytime)
Phone: (843) 766-2546
Baxter-Patrick James Island
9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Phone: (843) 795-6679
Bees Ferry West Ashley Library
9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Phone: (843) 805-6892
Village Library
9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Phone: (843) 884-9741
Keith Summey North Charleston Library
9 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Phone: (843) 744-2489
Mobile Library
9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Phone: (843) 805-6909
Patron Login
menu
Item request has been placed!
×
Item request cannot be made.
×
Processing Request
The Suffering Joker and the Cruel Joke: Nabokov's and Bellow's Dark Laughter.
Item request has been placed!
×
Item request cannot be made.
×
Processing Request
- Author(s): Naughton, Gerald David1 ; Naughton, Yulia Pushkarevskaya1
- Source:
CLCWeb: Comparative Literature & Culture: A Web Journal. Sep2019, Vol. 21 Issue 5, p1-10. 10p. - Source:
- Additional Information
- Subject Terms:
- Abstract: This article interrogates the interrelationship between cruelty, suffering, and laughter in novels by Saul Bellow and Vladimir Nabokov, positing an affective reading of how bodies that suffer come to produce laughter as a confounding, unexpected, and at times inappropriate readerly affect. Nabokov's Laughter in the Dark and Bellow's Henderson the Rain King both explore suffering as a form of excessive somatic cruelty inflicted on protagonists who, in experiencing such punishment, engender a strange, troubling, and potentially transformative form of laughter. In order to bring together a discussion of the body, suffering, cruelty, and laughter in Nabokov and Bellow, the essay uses Henri Bergson's idea of the "elasticity" of laughter in connection to cruelty and suffering, and various "affective" formulations of the body. In both writers, such Bergsonian elasticity of laughter is what allows for laughing at suffering, but there are crucial differences in their depictions of somatic suffering, particularly the responses they elicit from the reader. In Bellow's Henderson the Rain King, it is the protagonist himself who jokes about his suffering body. In Nabokov's Laughter in the Dark, it is the ironic narrator who simultaneously invites the reader to "laugh in the dark" and to check such laughter. What emerges in both novels is laughter as an unsettling readerly affect. Laughing about suffering thus may well become suffering after laughing, as the reader is forced to explore the emotional and ethical implications of such cruel laughter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Contact CCPL
Copyright 2022 Charleston County Public Library Powered By EBSCO Stacks 3.3.0 [350.3] | Staff Login
No Comments.