1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910780078503321

Autore

Douglas Allen <1949->

Titolo

War, memory, and the politics of humor [[electronic resource] ] : the Canard enchaîné and World War I / / Allen Douglas

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berkeley, : University of California Press, c2002

ISBN

9786612356629

1-282-35662-3

0-520-92694-3

1-59734-988-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (347 p.)

Disciplina

940.3/02/07

Soggetti

World War, 1914-1918

French wit and humor - History and criticism

Satire, French - History and criticism

World War, 1914-1918 - Press coverage - France

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Satire and Censorship -- 2. Verbal and Visual, Humor and Politics -- 3. Unstuffing Skulls -- 4. The Tears of L'Intran -- 5. Soldiers versus Profiteers -- 6. In Vino Veritas -- 7. Peace or Postwar -- 8. Web of Memory -- 9. Between Cannibalism and Resurrection -- 10. Anti-Imperialism and Its Stereotypes -- 11. Politics as Usual -- 12. Canard Economics, or the Costs of the War -- 13. The Wealth of Nations -- 14. Conclusion -- Notes -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

War, Memory, and the Politics of Humor features carnage and cannibalism, gender and cross-dressing, drunks and heroes, militarism and memory, all set against the background of World War I France. Allen Douglas shows how a new satiric weekly, the Canard Enchaîné, exploited these topics and others to become one of France's most influential voices of reaction to the Great War. The Canard, still published today, is France's leading satiric newspaper and the most successful periodical of the twentieth century, and Douglas colorfully illuminates the mechanisms of its unique style. Following the Canard



from its birth in 1915 to the eve of the Great Depression, the narrative reveals a heady mix of word play, word games, and cartoons. Over the years the journal--generally leftist, specifically antimilitarist and anti-imperialist--aimed its shots in all directions, using some stereotypes the twenty-first century might find unacceptable. But Douglas calls its humor an affirmation of life, and as such the most effective antidote to war.