Dark Humour and Social Satire in the Modern British Novel

LISA COLLETTA is lecturer at Boston University. She's currently editing a collection of Christopher Isherwood's letters.

• Comic Theory, the Social Novel, and Freud Criticizing the Social System: Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf's Dark Comedy of Manners The Dark Domestic Vision of Ivy Compton-Burnett: A House and Its Head The Too, Too Bogus World: Evelyn Waugh's Vile Bodies Astolpho Meets Sisyphus: Melancholy and Repetition in Anthony Powell's Afternoon Men

"A work filled with breadth, depth, and savvy." - Regina Barreca, University of Connecticut"A fresh, confident new voice in the field of twentieth-century literary studies - one that deserves close critical attention for its intelligence, mastery over sources, and sense of humor." - Kristin Bluemel, Monmouth University"Lisa Colletta expands our understanding of literary and cultural modernism in this insightful and trenchant study of dark humor in twentieth century British literature between the world wars. In refreshingly readable prose that is both lively and penetrating, Colletta's probing analysis of the novels of Virginia Woolf, Ivy Compton Burnett, Evelyn Waugh and Anthony Powell reveals that the comedic mode, however anarchic and subversive, is crucial for thesurvival of the individual, and never more so than during periods of social turbulence. In her exploration of the work of British novelists who mock the modernist 'ideal Joycean god-artistobjectively paring his fingernails,' Colletta illuminates their conviction that laughter in the face of despair is an effective antidotes to a bleak and soul-destroying social order." - Wendy Martin, Claremont Graduate Universtiy"Lisa Colletta's Dark Humor and Social Satire in the Modern British Novel finally fills a gap in literary criticism. It intriguingly combines a literary study of humor with modernism, and does not shy from investigating authors such as Powell and Waughwho have so far been largely avoided by modernist scholars. The book not only offers a valuable psychological framework of 'humor' but also provides a compelling reading of Woolf, Compton-Burnett, Waugh and Powell. It is a tour de force that ought to be compulsory reading for anyone interested in literary modernism." - Christine Berberich, Managing Editor, Modernism/Modernity"To the extent that dark comedy is a useful category, however, Lisa Colletta has made a significant contribution to understanding it, especially in relation to Modernism" - John Morreall, Humor 2005