A Laugh a Day Keeps the Doctor Away
by Irvin S. Cobb
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1923. Cobb was a noted New York humorist and columnist. Although he wrote over 60 books, Cobb is best known for his humorous stories of Kentucky local color. This is a selection of his favorite stories. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.Tags
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Collection of "humorous" stories. Making little light of the stereotypes but pounding them into the racist rants which white men seemed to find to necessary to "elevate" them above others. Examples of invidiousness abound. A nasty review of "Uncle Tom'[s Cabin Company" is tittered up. [240]. "Negro" is the only topic under the letter "N", and contains the largest number of numbered contributions -- all of them providing examples of blacks in jail, in trouble, getting hung and displaying cowardice or laziness. Under the topic "Hangings", six items, all "darkies".
Under "Hebrew", all stories about money-hoarders.
The yarns are presented in "realistic" settings which often quickly go wild with color and exaggeration. Lots of attention to show more the dialect, the accents of the Southerner, the Negro, the Irish, the brogue inflection and Yiddish cant.
Of tremendous cultural "historical" interest. Almost none of the "humor" is possible to appreciate today since it rides almost entirely on affected smug pieties and fictions. The author correctly suggests that story-telling can be uses to "point morals, to express situations, to help us solve puzzles". If only. show less
Under "Hebrew", all stories about money-hoarders.
The yarns are presented in "realistic" settings which often quickly go wild with color and exaggeration. Lots of attention to show more the dialect, the accents of the Southerner, the Negro, the Irish, the brogue inflection and Yiddish cant.
Of tremendous cultural "historical" interest. Almost none of the "humor" is possible to appreciate today since it rides almost entirely on affected smug pieties and fictions. The author correctly suggests that story-telling can be uses to "point morals, to express situations, to help us solve puzzles". If only. show less
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Author Information
89+ Works 544 Members
Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb was born on June 23, 1876 in Paducah, Kentucky. He was educated in public and private elementary schools an had intentions of getting a law degree when his grandfather died and his father was an alcoholic, so he pursued a writing career instead. Cobb is the author of more than 60 books and 300 short stories. He started in show more journalism on the Paducah Daily News at age seventeen, and became the nation's youngest managing news editor at nineteen. He later worked at the Louisville Evening Post for a year and a half. His anecdotal memoir "Exit Laughing," includes a firsthand account of the assassination of Kentucky Governor William Goebel in 1900 and the trials of his killers. Several of Cobb's stories were made into silent films. When Cobb died in New York City in 1944, his body was sent to Paducah for cremation. His ashes were placed under a dogwood tree. The granite boulder marking his remains is inscribed "Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb 1876-1944 Back Home". (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction
- DDC/MDS
- 817.5 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English Humor: Jokes & Riddles 1900-1999
- LCC
- PN6161 .C64 — Language and Literature Literature (General) Literature (General) Collections of general literature Wit and humor By region or country
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 41
- Popularity
- 717,782
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (2.00)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 3
- ASINs
- 6
