The Experience of Narrative Comedy

Marszalek, Agnes (2016) Beyond amusement: language and emotion in narrative comedy. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/7273/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Beyond Amusement Language and Emotion in Narrative Comedy Agnes Marszalek Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy English Language School of Critical Studies, College of Arts University of Glasgow December 2015 Abstract This thesis builds on cognitive stylistics, humour studies and psychological approaches to literature, film and television to explore how the stylistic features of comic novels and short stories may shape readers’ experience of comedy. I suggest that our responses to written humorous narratives are triggered by two types of stylistic cue: those which lead to amusement and stabilise our experience of comedy, and those which destabilise it by evoking non-humorous emotions associated with experiencing narrative worlds generally. When presented simultaneously, those cues can trigger complex humorous responses in which amusement is experienced alongside other, often negative, emotions. In order to investigate how textual elements can influence our emotional experience of humorous narratives, this thesis examines the ways in which stylistic cues affect some of the main experiential features of the narrative worlds of comedy: the moods evoked by the world, our relationships with characters, and our reactions to plot events. Following on from the Introduction and the Literature Review (Chapters 1 and 2), Chapter 3 explores the ways in which stylistic cues may evoke various moods by establishing, reinforcing and disrupting our expectations. Chapter 4 focuses on the role of characterisation in humorous narratives, concentrating on those cues which encourage us to laugh at narrative characters, and those which evoke other, non-humorous responses to them. In Chapter 5, I consider how the presentation of story events affects our experience of humorous plots. I discuss the cues which add humour to the presentation of otherwise problematic events, as well as those which combine humour with more uncomfortable emotions that stem from our reactions to story structures. Chapter 6, finally, provides a summary of the argument and of the contribution to knowledge made by this thesis. My exploration of the non-humorous side of experiencing narrative comedy offers a key contribution to the study of humorous narratives. By investigating humour as part of a wider narrative world, this thesis moves beyond the analysis of amusing language and towards addressing the complexity of the creation and experience of humour in a narrative world. The interdisciplinary, stylistic-psychological approach adopted here allows for hypotheses to be made not only about the emotional experience of humour in comic novels and short stories, but also about the affective side of narrative comprehension more generally. 2 Acknowledgements Above all, I would like to thank my primary supervisor, Cathy Emmott, whose knowledge, academic rigour and commitment have not only supported me throughout the process of writing this thesis, but have shaped my research since I was an undergraduate student. I am also very grateful to Marc Alexander, my second supervisor, for all his good advice (academic and other) and his friendship, which have assisted me along the way. The expertise and enthusiasm of the staff members in the English Language subject area at the University of Glasgow have – even if indirectly – had an impact on the development of this thesis. Apart from Cathy Emmott and Marc Alexander, I would like to thank Wendy Anderson, Ellen Bramwell, Carole Hough, Christian Kay, as well as Ross McLachlan and other members of our Cognitive Linguistics Reading Group. The ideas explored in this thesis have been influenced by the insightful feedback of the editors of my published work on humour – Marta Dynel, Joanna Gavins and Ernestine Lahey. I am also indebted to my former examiners, Dan McIntyre and Marc Alexander, for their invaluable comments on my MPhil thesis, which have informed my further work. I would additionally like to thank all those who have provided feedback on my conference papers in the last few years, especially Michael Burke, Marta Dynel, Joanna Gavins, Andrew Goatly, Lesley Jeffries, Paul Simpson and Peter Stockwell. My research has, more generally, been inspired by the work done by the members of the Poetics and Linguistics Association, and I would like to thank them for their enthusiasm and openness. Of all the fellow PhD students in the College of Arts, I am particularly grateful to Nina Ravnholdt Enemark, both for her friendship, and for all kinds of practical, technical and humorological assistance. I would also like to thank Lou Dear, Michael Shaw, Hannah Tweed and Sadia Zulfiqar, among the many other inhabitants of the 73 Great George Street offices. In writing this thesis, I have been immensely supported by my ‘Glasgow family’, especially Anna Fisk, Emma Forbes, Robin Davis and finally Ryan Vance, whose comments on parts of this thesis were both useful and reassuring. Special thanks go to Alex Winn for all kinds of help and encouragement. Despite the physical distance between us, on every step of this process I have been backed by the unconditional support, reassurance and comfort of my family in Warsaw and Gdańsk. It is to my family that I dedicate this thesis. This research was funded by the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, and I am deeply grateful to them for their assistance, generosity and kindness. 3 Contents 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 6 1.1. Beyond amusement: The experience of narrative comedy ......................................... 7 1.1.1. Comic narratives and humorous worlds .............................................................. 7 1.1.2. The language of comic narratives and the experience of humorous worlds ........ 8 1.1.3. This approach in relation to other work ............................................................. 11 1.2. Theoretical background: World-based approaches to discourse ............................... 13 1.2.1. Texts as worlds: Literary and linguistic approaches .......................................... 14 1.2.2. Experiencing narrative worlds: Psychological approaches................................ 16 1.3. Method ...................................................................................................................... 17 1.3.1. Texts ................................................................................................................... 18 1.3.2. Analysis.............................................................................................................. 19 1.4. Thesis outline ............................................................................................................ 21 1.5. Summary ................................................................................................................... 23 2. Literature Review .......................................................................................................... 24 2.1. Emotions and literature ............................................................................................. 24 2.1.1. Emotions ............................................................................................................ 24 2.1.2. Literary emotions ............................................................................................... 26 2.1.3. Summary ............................................................................................................ 30 2.2. Humour studies ......................................................................................................... 31 2.2.1. Schools of thought ............................................................................................. 31 2.2.2. Linguistic approaches to humour ....................................................................... 34 2.2.3. Linguistic approaches to narrative humour ........................................................ 39 2.2.4. Summary ............................................................................................................ 42 3. Experiencing Modes and Moods .................................................................................. 44 3.1. Theoretical background ............................................................................................. 44 3.1.1. The psychology of mood ................................................................................... 45 3.1.2. Mood in literary and film studies ....................................................................... 47 3.1.3. Humour studies approaches to mode ................................................................. 50 3.1.4. Summary ...........................................................................................................

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