English classic 'Pride and Prejudice' author Jane Austen tickles readers' funny bone through her character Mrs Bennet's attempts at marrying off her daughters. The genre of humour effectively used by the 19th century novelist, is however not the first choice for women writers today, feel authors.
In a conversation on women and writing based the occasion of International Women's Day authors Jaishree Misra, Sowmya Rajendran along with Daman Singh pondered over whether male authors are indeed more humorous than their female counterparts.
"I think men tend to be be funnier than women," said Daman Singh, novelist and daughter of ex-prime minister Manmohan Singh.
Although all three authors did agree on humour being one of the deciding factors while picking up a book, their opinions about the genre and its source differed at several instances.
"Humour is definitely on the top of my list. I can't resist humour. Whether it is flashes of humour or it is outright humour," Singh said as she named the humorists she has read, all of them men.
Humour, an art form provoking laughter, has been often used in literature, albeit in different forms. Sometimes, it is Austen's wit that evokes laughter, at other times it is, what is called Shakespeare's comic relief. The former is funny to an extent that trivialises the situation but the latter is dark and tends to enhance the gravity of the plot.
The youngest on the panel, Soumya Rajendran said, "I think Virginia Woolf is pretty funny. It is not ha ha funny but there is so much of humour in her writing. When I read A 'Room of One's Own' it changed my life. It opened my eyes to the world in a completely new way."
Sowmya who has written for children recently launched her first book for adults a dystopian satire titled "The Lesson.
