WLC Seminar – Wednesday 15 June 12n – Andrew Dean

The Writing, Literature and Culture seminar Series – JUNE 15 12n-1pm (AEST)

Dr Andrew Dean (Deakin University). will present “Bernard Malamud at the Edge of the Joke” for the June WLC seminar series. In 2021 Andrew published his first academic book,Metafiction and the Postwar Novel. Check out his website for more links to his research: https://andrewdean.me 

When: Wednesday 15 June from 12.00 noon to 1.00 pm. 

Where: Zoom

https://deakin.zoom.us/j/83169880464?pwd=T0xvVUdvbWFweUlpRkViR01PVGNEUT09

Meeting ID: 831 6988 0464.   Password: 25786304

Abstract:

Philip Roth once claimed that there were stories of Bernard Malamud’s “where the charm of the art was just the way [they] humorously hovered at the edge of the joke”. In this paper, I explore how several of Malamud’s short stories draw from Jewish joke-telling traditions to achieve their distinctive effects. It is the ‘hovering’ which turns out to be crucial: moving across genres and tones to address issues in identity, theology, and history. While this paper does not offer conclusive thoughts, it is part of a larger attempt to understand how comedy and jokes can be held within – and possibly disturb – literary form.