Salvatore Attardo's Abstracts Pages
The Analysis of Humorous Narratives
Salvatore Attardo
HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research (to appear)
Abstract
This paper presents a method for the analysis of humorous texts larger than jokes. The
method consists of the General Theory of Verbal Humor augmented of a component to
handle the narrative aspects of the texts. Specifically, the following tools are introduced:
jab and punch lines, macro- and micro-narratives, levels of narrative (metanarratives),
strands of lines, stacks of strands, and intertextual jokes. An extended example from a
sitcom is analyzed and some speculations on further research are offered. A postscriptum
discusses some theoretical issues left on the background for simplicity's sake.
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