The Comedian of Concord: Thoreau and American Humor
FAIN: FB-12232-74
Ralph C. LaRosa
UCLA; Regents of the University of California, Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA 90024-4201)
To identify and characterize the folk tradition behind the humor in Thoreau's writings. Much of the enduring quality of Thoreau's prose is its resonance of folk humor, which is sensed only vaguely by modern readers. This study will attempt to place Thoreau's writings in the context of humor in which they were produced.