Download or read book Laughter and War written by Lesley Milne and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2016-01-14 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: War is no laughing matter. During a war, however, laughter can play a vital role in sustaining morale, both in the armies at the Front and in their homelands. Among wars, the 1914–18 conflict has left a haunting legacy, and remains a central topic in modern European history. This book offers a comparative study of the impact of the war in four countries, and breaks new ground by exploring this through the medium of what their respective populations laughed at. By searching the pages of four humorous-satirical magazines, Punch in the UK, Le Rire (France), Simplicissimus (Germany), and Novy Satirikon (Russia), all of which supported the national war efforts, it examines the ways in which humour made an important contribution to the propaganda war. All four magazines were famous for their cartoons, a selection of which is included, but much of the humour was expressed through the written word, in skits, squibs, comic tales, and light verse. Translated into English, these snapshots of the moment are brought together to chart the responses on both sides of the conflict to issues and unfolding events, identifying the stories that nations liked to tell about themselves and also the ones they liked to be told.
Download or read book Laughter Wasn t Rationed written by Dorothea von Schwanenflügel Lawson and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 548 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Do you know anyone who experienced two World Wars in Germany and survived to talk about it? You do now! Welcome to Laughter Wasn't Rationed and the historical war memoir of Dorothea von Schwanenflügel Lawson. She will take you from the Weimar Republic to the Berlin Wall, and give you a first-hand account of her life that is full of historical facts - the perspective of an ordinary citizen not found in history books. Vintage photos accompany her journey. As a native German born during World War I, Dorothea takes us from her relatively carefree youth through the much-staged rise and fall of Hitler and his Nazi Party, World War II and the devastating postwar years, up to the beginnings of the Cold War. Through her, you will experience the air raids and intense bombing of Berlin, the ever-present hunger, the Soviet invasion and other day-to-day struggles. You will not only see the grim realities of life, but are treated to many jokes about the Third Reich that were once punishable by imprisonment or by death. You will also enjoy a small dose of German culture along the way, as well as her conversational style. Unfortunately generations die out and the experiences of real people are lost forever. Dorothea's insight is invaluable, and has been recognized by several universities that are using her book and knowledge of Europe in their history courses."--Publisher description.
Download or read book The Stone of Laughter written by Hudá Barakāt and published by Garnet Publishing. This book was released on 1994 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A novel of the civil war in Lebanon whose protagonist is a homosexual trying to remain neutral. But as he discovers, neutrality in a civil war is not possible. He becomes involved like everyone else and is the better man for the experience gained. The novel won an award in Lebanon.
Download or read book Laughter After written by David Slucki and published by Wayne State University Press. This book was released on 2020-04-07 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Laughter After will appeal to a number of audiences—from students and scholars of Jewish and Holocaust studies to academics and general readers with an interest in media and performance studies.
Download or read book Dark Laughter written by Les Cleveland and published by Praeger. This book was released on 1994-02-23 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Popular culture is important in wartime. It asserts the values of patriotism, helps to create happy warriors, and expresses people's emotions. Here, Cleveland treats war as popular culture, using service songs, folklore, and popular music as a leitmotif to explore cultural relationships between military life and society. Drawing on 20th-century lyrics, occupational folklore, and rank-and-file parodies, protests, and sexual fantasies, he shows how crises of war are mediated by popular culture and how the soldier comes to terms with boredom, discomfort, and danger. Ranging from World War I to Vietnam and drawing on his own experience in World War II, Cleveland provides a unique treatment of military folklore and popular song in 20th-century warfare from the perspective of the ordinary soldier.
Download or read book Maoist Laughter written by Ping Zhu and published by Hong Kong University Press. This book was released on 2019-08-01 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WINNER — 2020 Choice’s Outstanding Academic Title During the Mao years, laughter in China was serious business. Simultaneously an outlet for frustrations and grievances, a vehicle for socialist education, and an object of official study, laughter brought together the political, the personal, the aesthetic, the ethical, the affective, the physical, the aural, and the visual. The ten essays in Maoist Laughter convincingly demonstrate that the connection between laughter and political culture was far more complex than conventional conceptions of communist indoctrination can explain. Their sophisticated readings of a variety of genres—including dance, cartoon, children’s literature, comedy, regional oral performance, film, and fiction—uncover many nuanced innovations and experiments with laughter during what has been too often misinterpreted as an unrelentingly bleak period. In Mao’s China, laughter helped to regulate both political and popular culture and often served as an indicator of shifting values, alliances, and political campaigns. In exploring this phenomenon, Maoist Laughter is a significant correction to conventional depictions of socialist China. “Maoist Laughter brings together prominent scholars of contemporary China to make a timely and original contribution to the burgeoning field of Maoist literature and culture. One of its main strengths lies in the sheer number of genres covered, including dance, traditional Chinese performance, visual arts, film, and literature. The focus on humor in the Maoist period gives an exciting new perspective from which to understand cultural production in twentieth-century China.” —Krista Van Fleit, University of South Carolina “An illuminating study of the culture of laughter in the Maoist period. Focusing on much-neglected topics such as satire, jokes, and humor, this book is an essential contribution to our understanding of how socialist culture actually ‘worked’ as a coherent, dynamic, and constructive life experience. The chapters show that traditional culture could almost blend perfectly with revolutionary mission.” —Xiaomei Chen, University of California, Davis
Download or read book Laughter in Hell written by Steve Lipman and published by Jason Aronson. This book was released on 1991 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Asserts that humor is a form of resistance and a means of psychological survival in threatening situations, and has always been cultivated especially by Jews. Cites reports of humor by both Jews and non-Jews in Nazi Germany and occupied Europe, in the ghettos and the concentration camps, and quotes many jokes. also surveys anti-Nazi jokes, cartoons, and satirical books and films issued abroad and after the war.
Download or read book Humour Comedy and Laughter written by Lidia Dina Sciama and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2016-04-01 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anthropological writings on humor are not very numerous or extensive, but they do contain a great deal of insight into the diverse mental and social processes that underlie joking and laughter. On the basis of a wide range of ethnographic and textual materials, the chapters examine the cognitive, social, and moral aspects of humor and its potential to bring about a sense of amity and mutual understanding, even among different and possibly hostile people. Unfortunately, though, cartoons, jokes, and parodies can cause irremediable distress and offence. Nevertheless, contributors’ cross-cultural evidence confirms that the positive aspects of humor far outweigh the danger of deepening divisions and fueling hostilities
Download or read book The Melancholy of Resistance written by László Krasznahorkai and published by New Directions Publishing. This book was released on 2003 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the winner of the 2015 Man Booker International Prize
Download or read book Where Youth and Laughter Go written by Seth William Bell Folsom and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2015-09-15 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Where Youth and Laughter Go completes LtCol Seth Folsom’s recounting of his personal experiences in command over a decade of war. It is the culminating chapter of a trilogy that began with The Highway War: A Marine Company Commander in Iraq in 2006 and continued with In the Gray Area: A Marine Advisor Team at War in 2010. The chronicle of Folsom’s command of 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, “The Cutting Edge,” and his harrowing deployment to Afghanistan’s volatile Sangin District presents a deeper look into the complexities and perils of modern counterinsurgency operations in America’s longest war. Charged with the daunting task of pacifying a region with a long history of violence and instability, Folsom and his Marines struggled daily to wage a dynamic campaign against the shadowy enemy force that held Sangin’s population firmly in its grip. With peace and stability always teetering on the brink of collapse, the Marines of “The Cutting Edge” confronted their own mortality as they conducted endless patrols through Sangin’s minefields while fighting to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan villagers. No other books have been published from the perspective of a Marine infantry battalion commander in Afghanistan. It was Folsom’s job, as the unit commander, to lead his Marines under impossible circumstances. LtCol Folsom made the unusual decision to patrol with his rifle squads every day through Sangin, where his Marines dodged improvised explosive devices and sniper fire from an invisible enemy. As his tour progressed and casualties mounted, he found his objectivity evaporating and the love for his men growing. Where Youth and Laughter Go is more than a blood-and-guts war story, it is a jarring, “boots on the ground”–level examination of the myriad challenges and personal dilemmas that today’s young service members face as the United States approaches its final endgame in Afghanistan.
Download or read book The Book of Laughter and Forgetting written by Milan Kundera and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2023-03-28 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "An absolutely dazzling entertainment. . . . Arousing on every level—political, erotic, intellectual, and above all, humorous." —Newsweek "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting calls itself a novel, although it is part fairy tale, part literary criticism, part political tract, part musicology, and part autobiography. It can call itself whatever it wants to, because the whole is genius." —New York Times Rich in its stories, characters, and imaginative range, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting is the novel that brought Milan Kundera his first big international success in the late 1970s. Like all his work, it is valuable for far more than its historical implications. In seven wonderfully integrated parts, different aspects of human existence are magnified and reduced, reordered and emphasized, newly examined, analyzed, and experienced.
Download or read book Laughter in the Trenches written by Jakub Kazecki and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Laughter in the Trenches: Humour and Front Experience in German First World War Narratives explores the appearances and functions of humour and laughter in selected novels and short stories, based on autobiographical experiences, written by authors during the war and in the Weimar Era (1919â "1933). This study focuses on popular and lesser-known works of German literature that played an important role in the socio-political life of the Weimar Republic: Storm of Steel by Ernst JÃ1/4nger (1920), Advance from Mons 1914 by Walter Bloem (1916), The Case of Sergeant Grischa by Arnold Zweig (1927), and All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (1929). The author shows that these works often share surprisingly similar narrative strategies in describing humorous experiences and soldier laughter to justify direct violence and oppressive power structures, regardless of the worksâ (TM) ideological assignment and their popular and critical reception. This book also examines the parodic imitations of All Quiet on the Western Front, the German text All Quiet on the Trojan Front by Emil Marius Requark (1930) and the American film So Quiet on the Canine Front by Zion Myers and Jules White (1931) as significant polemical contributions that use humoristic strategies to stress or undermine elements of the original text.
Download or read book Laughter War and Feminism written by Gabriela Castellanos and published by Peter Lang Incorporated, International Academic Publishers. This book was released on 1994 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the critical tradition, Jane Austen has long been considered a conservative writer, whose novels emphasize the importance of manners and propriety. This study, however, continues a more recent trend in Austen Scholarship, one that focuses on her feminism. It breaks new ground by identifying, as one ingredient in her fiction, an iconoclastic laughter that is closer to popular gaiety than to the elitist ironic stance of many of her predecessors. Furthermore, it underlines the presence of conflict in her narrative and points to the disruptive speech reported in Austen's elegant, hyper-correct sentences. Working with three of Austen's novels - Northanger Abbey, Pride and Prejudice and Emma - the study analyzes the elements of feminist carnival in her prose.
Download or read book Laughter Is the Best Weapon written by Charles Ritchie and published by Pen & Sword Military. This book was released on 2021-06-23 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "An army may march on its stomach but it leans on its funny bone." So says Brigadier Charles Ritchie, and he should know. Postings to the Yemen, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, and other far-away trouble spots gave him many opportunities to demonstrate that the ability to laugh - and make others laugh - is an invaluable skill in an officer's kitbag.In Laughter is the Best Weapon - the Remarkable Adventures of an Unconventional Soldier, Charles abandons the popular trend for military heroism and angst-ridden confessions. Instead he leads the reader on a forthright yet light-hearted and self-deprecating journey through his 38 years' service as a Royal Scot. In the process we witness his sometimes significant, but often comedic, participation in a wide range of recent British military operations.If you prefer your military history more entertainingly honest than earnestly intellectual and your soldiers hilariously slapstick rather than heroically stoic, then this is the book for you. Liberally sprinkled with career-limiting cock-ups, bizarre near-death experiences, and the clatter not of gunfire but shameless name-dropping, these delightfully varied anecdotes deliver a hugely entertaining glimpse into the extraordinary life of one of the British Army's most spirited and loveable characters.
Download or read book The Laughing Monsters written by Denis Johnson and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2014-11-04 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Denis Johnson's New York Times bestseller, The Laughing Monsters, is a high-suspense tale of kaleidoscoping loyalties in the post-9/11 world that shows one of our great novelists at the top of his game. Roland Nair calls himself Scandinavian but travels on a U.S. passport. After ten years' absence, he returns to Freetown, Sierra Leone, to reunite with his friend Michael Adriko. They once made a lot of money here during the country's civil war, and, curious to see whether good luck will strike twice in the same place, Nair has allowed himself to be drawn back to a region he considers hopeless. Adriko is an African who styles himself a soldier of fortune and who claims to have served, at various times, the Ghanaian army, the Kuwaiti Emiri Guard, and the American Green Berets. He's probably broke now, but he remains, at thirty-six, as stirred by his own doubtful schemes as he was a decade ago. Although Nair believes some kind of money-making plan lies at the back of it all, Adriko's stated reason for inviting his friend to Freetown is for Nair to meet Adriko's fiancée, a grad student from Colorado named Davidia. Together the three set out to visit Adriko's clan in the Uganda-Congo borderland—but each of these travelers is keeping secrets from the others. Their journey through a land abandoned by the future leads Nair, Adriko, and Davidia to meet themselves not in a new light, but rather in a new darkness.
Download or read book Maisie Dobbs written by Jacqueline Winspear and published by Soho Press. This book was released on 2014-06-03 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A female investigator every bit as brainy and battle-hardened as Lisbeth Salander." —Maureen Corrigan, NPR's Fresh Air, on Maisie Dobbs Maisie Dobbs got her start as a maid in an aristocratic London household when she was thirteen. Her employer, suffragette Lady Rowan Compton, soon became her patron, taking the remarkably bright youngster under her wing. Lady Rowan's friend, Maurice Blanche, often retained as an investigator by the European elite, recognized Maisie’s intuitive gifts and helped her earn admission to the prestigious Girton College in Cambridge, where Maisie planned to complete her education. The outbreak of war changed everything. Maisie trained as a nurse, then left for France to serve at the Front, where she found—and lost—an important part of herself. Ten years after the Armistice, in the spring of 1929, Maisie sets out on her own as a private investigator, one who has learned that coincidences are meaningful, and truth elusive. Her very first case involves suspected infidelity but reveals something very different. In the aftermath of the Great War, a former officer has founded a working farm known as The Retreat, that acts as a convalescent refuge for ex-soldiers too shattered to resume normal life. When Fate brings Maisie a second case involving The Retreat, she must finally confront the ghost that has haunted her for over a decade.
Download or read book The Great Naval Game written by Jan Rüger and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2007-06-21 with total page 53 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An innovative study of the cult of the navy in the age of empire.