Like its predecessors since 1986, this anthology cannot be characterised by its homogeneity. Diversity is its chief characteristic. So there are narrative essays that read like short stories, mosaic essays that read like prose poems. There is literary criticism (usually an overdose) with an autobiographical spin, journalism attuned to drama, philosophical reflections with a heavy dose of information. Physicists, mathematicians and philosophers too are finding that complex ideas combined with a prose style are not irreconcilable; think of Stephen Hawkings A Brief History of Time or Stephen Jay Goulds biological study on the evolution of man, Eight Little Piggies.
But there is an underlying theme in the 1997 collection: humour. Fraziers selection reacquaint us with the literature of politeness or what could be described as the conspiracy of courtesy each side letting the other know what it thinks it wants to hear. This is humour that reflects the pressures and contradictions of our times.
Roy Blunts First Tell Me What Kind of Reader You Are tells us that he was brought up to be polite before he lets off steam rather like Bill Brysons hilarious stores of small-town America (I come from Des Moines. Some body had to.);Verlyn Klinkenborgs We Are Still Only Human had learned to depend on politeness and to hate it, because it so often feels like a hand clutching my windpipe, a sentiment which Nataline Kusz reciprocates when confronted with incomprehensible politeness of Americas mid-west. Debra Dickersons Who Shot Johnny? sees polite behaviour (often suppressed anger) backfiring into inexplicable behaviour, Hilton Als Notes on My Mother introduces a woman who was always polite even at the end. At Fidel Castros palace in Havana with Mohammed Ali, Gay Talese records one of the most amazing stretches of polite conversation.
But how does one define humour from political satire to the shock of the new to farce? Drawing on diverse subjects, the essays show how language is central to the interpretation of humourous texts.
The soul is born old and grows young. That is the comedy of life. And the body is born young and grows old. That is the tragedy of life. Oscar Wilde
The context of humour is crucial in determining whether an individual finds something amusing or not. But the bottom line is that it has to be incongruous to make its point
All great humour will have an underside of sadness like this definition by Ambrose Bierce of Misfortune: The kind of fortune that never misses.
This is a wonderful collection of good writing that you would do well to get hold of.
