From: Susan Rich <Susan.Rich>
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 18:15:20 -0400

Hello,
     
     I, too, am new to the list, and am feeling more popular than ever
     before with so many incoming messages!
     
     Contributors to this discussion have cited such a broad range of
     titles; it strikes me that humor infuses literature. I am enthralled
     with the use of humor in books such as EARTHSHINE by Teresa Nelson, in
     which a bus full of AIDS patients find themselves, in a moment of
     remarkable self-awareness, intoxicated with laughter. Comedy, as the
     counterpoint of tragedy, is a potent tool.
     
     I suppose that as an inexorable part of human experience, humor is
     necessary to every narrative. Is there such a thing as a book devoid
     of laughter that isn't devoid of emotional content altogether?
     
     
     Susan Rich
     Editor
     HarperCollins Children's Books
Received on Wed 13 May 1998 05:15:20 PM CDT