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Dark Humor: A Rhetoric of Social Taboos

PWR 1GIF - Winter 2013 - Instructor: Fernandez, I.
Last Updated: 9-Mar-2015

A guide to resources for PWR 1GIF: Dark Humor: A Rhetoric of Social Taboos. Topics include the logic behind material that is shocking, marginal and vulgar, and how such material works as a form of argument.

Background/Reference Sources for Dark Humor

Use these sources to help you pick a topic and to provide context to your research based argument.

The Cambridge introduction to comedy / Eric Weitz.
Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Green Library » Information Center » PN1922 .W45 2009
Censorship : a world encyclopedia / Derek Jones, editor.
London ; Chicago : Fitzroy Dearborn, c2001.
Green Library » Information Center » Z658 .W675 C38 2000 V.1
Comedy : a geographic and historical guide / edited by Maurice Charney.
Westport, Conn. : Praeger , 2005.
Green Library » Lane Reading Room: Reference » PN6147 .C565 2005 V.1
Encyclopedia of taboos / Lynn Holden.
Oxford ; Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-CLIO, c2000.
Green Library » Information Center » GN471.4 .H65 2000
Encyclopedia of 20th-century American humor / Alleen Pace Nilsen and Don L.F. Nilsen.
Phoenix, Ariz. : Oryx Press, 2000.
Green Library » Information Center » PS438 .N55 2000
The Greenwood guide to American popular culture / edited by M. Thomas Inge and Dennis Hall.
Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 2002.
Green Library » Information Center » E169.1 .G7555 2002 V.1
This is a 4-volume encyclopedia. We have a set in the Art Library and a set in the Green Library Information Center.

Selected books related to Dark Humor

The cartoons that shook the world / Jytte Klausen.
New Haven [Conn.] : Yale University Press, c2009.
Green Library » Stacks » PN5289 .A253 M675 2009
Comic relief : a comprehensive philosophy of humor / John Morreall ; foreword by Robert Mankoff.
Chichester, West Sussex, U.K. ; Malden, MA : Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
Green Library » Stacks » PN6149 .P5 M67 2009
Of corpse : death and humor in folklore and popular culture / edited by Peter Narváez.
Logan, Utah : Utah State University Press, 2003.
Green Library » Stacks » GR455 .O43 2003
Punchlines : the case for racial, ethnic, and gender humor / Leon Rappoport.
Westport, Conn. : Praeger Publishers, 2005.
Green Library » Stacks » PN6149 .E83 R37 2005
Black humor : critical essays / [edited by] Alan R. Pratt.
New York : Garland Pub., 1993.
Green Library » Stacks » PS430 .B48 1993

Suggested Series and Subject Searches for Dark Humor

"Popular culture and philosophy" series
"Black Humor" Searchworks Subject Search
"Comedy History and criticism" Searchworks Subject Search (English Language)

Journals/Ejournals for Humor and Comedy research

Search for articles within these subject-specific journals

Humor (Berlin, Germany): International Journal of Humor Research
Index on censorship- best online coverage through Highwire Press
Journal of popular culture
Journal of popular film and television
Studies in American humor - recent issues go directly to the Stacks

Databases

Besides the selected general and subject-specific databases listed here, try these databases for Articles on particular perspectives on Dark Humor. 

Remember to use the find it at  Find it at Stanford Stanford links to find full text of articles

 

Websites of Interest

Cartoonist group
The Onion
Znet: the spirit of resistance lives!