Thematic Aspects of Humor in M. Twain`s Fictional Prose and Journalism

For citation: Maximov B.A. (2019) Tematicheskie aspekty yumora v khudozhestvennoy proze i publitsistike M. Tvena [Thematic Aspects of Humor in M. Twain`s Fictional Prose and Journalism]. Mediaskop1. (in Russian). Available at: http://www.mediascope.ru/2523

DOI: 10.30547/mediascope.1.2019.3

© Boris A. Maximov

PhD in Philology, Senior Researcher at the Chair of Foreign Journalism and Literature, Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, Russia), esprit25@rambler.ru

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to connect Twain`s convictions and didactic intentions with his "talent for humorous writing" (to quote Twain`s early self-definition). Mostly, scholars used to discuss them separately, so Twain`s humor becomes either a showy surface covering (if not hiding) substantial statements or a goal in itself, that exposes the overall absurdity of human condition. In my opinion, Twain did neither preach under the guise of humor, nor did he aim an ironical reversal of all values and guides. Instead, he was attracted to issues involving inner incongruences and distortions, i.e. to topics with great comic potential. The Gilded Age mentality was full of inconsistencies and soaring ambitions and hence ideally suited to a humorist. Here we examine, how Twain uses some of the widespread contradictions (that between historical tradition and zealous progressionism, between inherited addiction to violence and refined manners of a perfect gentleman, and, finally, between the Calvinist view of providence and of depravity and modern secular ethics) for comical purposes. Some attention is paid to his (humorous) strategies for dramatizing contrasts and for curbing inflated expectations and ambitions of his countrymen.

Keywords: Mark Twain, humor, progress, violence, Calvinism.

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