James Herriot and Humor

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James Herriot and Humor

• By Winona Siegmund

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To learn more about James Herriot

• Wight the younger (who followed in his father's
  footsteps and later joined the practice in
  Thirsk), is undoubtedly the best person to reveal
  the depths of a man whose public persona was as
  respected and trusted as the real man who tended
  to animals in and around the small Yorkshire
  village where he lived until the day he died.
  --Susan Harrison, Amazon.co.uk --

Photo and text are fromhttp//www.amazon.com/exec
/obidos/
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• aside This device is found most often in plays.
  These are small comments often funny are made
  almost under ones breath, designed for the
  audience to hear, but NOT for everyone present to
  hear.

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• contrast contrast is a key element in
  literature. Not all contrasts are humorous, of
  course, but they can be humorous, esp. when there
  is a situation involving an unexpected contrast
  between two unlikes.

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What makes us laugh (again)?

• exaggeration both in word and deed. Using
  hyperbole (exaggeration) can be very funny,
  indeed. Think of a child telling you a story
  where he/she exaggerates the details to make an
  impact it can be extremely funny.

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• irony It is an incongruity or a discrepancy
  between a and b. Not all irony is funny. If
  someone is hurt or the situation is painful or
  embarrassing, then its not humorous, but irony
  can be funny.

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• physical comedy think of the Three Stooges and
  the old Dick VanDyke Show. These are silly,
  ridiculous actions, esp. things like tripping and
  poking, where you know that no one gets seriously
  hurt. Its no longer funny if someone is
  actually hurt.

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• poking fun a gentle device where one character
  kindly (not meanly) makes gentle fun of another.
  If this is done in a mean-spirited way, then it
  is NOT considered poking fun. The narrator pokes
  fun in Gift of the Magi.

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• word play This can be an authors playful use
  of language, which is often figurative. Youll
  see some humorous word play (often, but not
  always) in similes, metaphors, personification,
  and, in puns and exaggeration/ hyperbole.