'The subtleties of the American joke' : Mark Twain versus Europe

Andrew L. Giarelli

doi:10.5817/BSE2024-1-10

'The subtleties of the American joke' : Mark Twain versus Europe

Vol.50,No.1(2024)

Andrew L. Giarelli

https://doi.org/10.5817/BSE2024-1-10

Stable URL (handle):
http://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/digilib.81081

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Abstract

"Guides can not master the subtleties of the American joke," Mark Twain writes after he finishes a bout of stymying European efforts to teach culture to him and his comrades in The Innocents Abroad (293). The joke is double-barreled: Europeans do not realize the joke is on them for being stuck in their past and because Americans are not as dull-witted as they seem, but the joke is also of course on clueless traveling Americans, thrashing about Europe for cultural self-improvement. However, and mostly overlooked in previous analyses, there really is a "subtlety" to that multi-layered term "the American joke." Acknowledging earlier socio-historical analyses of Twain's confrontation between new and old worlds, as well as criticism problematizing the idea of authenticity in travel or implicating his book in Western imperialism, this paper instead explores via the lens of Menippean satire Twain's complex narrative construction of his "joke", which ultimately blends humor and horror.

Keywords:
Twain; humor; Menippean satire; Europe; travel

Pages:
167–183

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