From: DLubar at aol.com <DLubar>
Date: Wed, 8 May 2002 12:28:46 EDT

I've been lurking for ages, perfectly happy to admire and enjoy the discussions from afar, but this topic is so close to my heart that I figured it was a good time to chime in. (I guess a brief introduction is in order. I'm a writer and a reader. I've been told I'm funny.) I could discuss various aspects of humor for hours, but here's the first thing that comes to mind. When I do writing workshops with kids, I sometimes show them this incomplete sentence:
       "As John walked into the dark room, he felt something strange beneath his right foot. Flipping on the light switch, he saw that he'd stepped onto a
____."
       I ask the kids to provide an ending that would be funny. Then I ask for endings that would be scary. Once we have the two lists, we discuss what the elements the suggestions have in common. Being brilliant kids, they quickly realize two things. Humor and horror can stem from the unexpected.
("John stepped on a rug" isn't funny, unless the rug is woven from pasta.) And they can rise from a sense of relief. (Sure glad it didn't happen to me.) There's a wonderful German word for the concept of "shame-joy," which refers to that strange urge to smile upon first hearing bad news. (I think it's something like "shangenfreud" or "shazbot.") For me, the most interesting aspect of this is how similar humor and horror are. (It's also interesting to note that they are accorded similar disrespect at times, despite the fact that many of the greatest writers drew from both those wells.)
    As long as I'm already here, allow me to include the other stray thoughts that hit me while reading the postings. Taboo words will draw a laugh, but they work best when the humor is based on more than just the word. When I read the short story, "At the Wrist" to kids, the line that gets the biggest laugh is, "It isn't easy to look at your own butt in a mirror." (The character is trying to determine whether he'd really been spanked in his sleep.) The humor doesn't come just from the use of "butt." It comes from the audience imagining the scene.
    I feel a clever piece of bathroom humor is more enjoyable than a lame passage of sophisticated wit. (Though, of course, there are plenty of examples of lame bathroom humor and brilliant sophisticated wit.) But balance is essential. A truly funny book will offer humor on various levels. Those of you who have a lot of free time are invited to visit the librarian's section of my web site for a short piece in defense of grossness.
    Humor often fails when a funny element requires knowledge beyond the experience of the reader. (That hilarious reference to Alger Hiss might not get a lot of chuckles from third graders.)
    Yikes. It was daylight when I started writing this. Just two more things. While I feel a bit squeamish about mentioning my own books, I'm going to mention that my next novel is about the healing power of laughter. I explore the way that humor can hurt but can also heal. (I'm squeamish enough to leave it at that and not give the title.)
    Finally, just for fun, here's a list of the top reasons to read (and write) funny books.

1. Mark Twain lived to the age of 75, Franz Kafka only made it to 41.

2. Angst is passe.

3. If I want to read something disturbing, I've already got my brokerage statement.

4. Imagine how bearable high school would have been if Madame Bovary was funny.

David Lubar www.davidlubar.com
Received on Wed 08 May 2002 11:28:46 AM CDT