Dark Humor & Satire

ELT 49 : 2 2006 a genre, and might be analyzed as such, there may be subgenres (such as the suicide condolence letter) to analyze as well. In addition to the letters already mentioned, there are notes from key literary figures such as T. S. Eliot, E. M. Forster, and H. G. Wells. These, of course, will be of interest to readers because of the reputations of these writers, but perhaps the most interesting section of the book is that featuring letters from Virginia's circle of friends. It includes many from less-known women writers and activists, and the well-written annotations in this section reflect Oldfield's expertise and unique contribution to Woolf scholarship. As the author of several books on activist women, including Women against the Iron Fist: Alternatives to Militarism, 1900-1989 (Blackwell, 1989) and British Women Humanitarians , 1900-1950 (Continuum, 2001), Oldfield does an excellent job of identifying less easily recognized figures of the period and their roles in the progressive political movements of the time. Ultimately, Woolf scholars should benefit from the publication of the condolence letters in several ways. Not only does the collection add to the already existing body of letters and provide important evidence for a more nuanced understanding of the response to Woolf's death, but those scholars interested in specific relationships within the Woolf circle may find new information to reassess these relationships. While this reader would have appreciated additional documents to contextualize the public debate about Woolf's death, such as obituaries and appreciations of Woolf published in the periodical press, Oldfield does include a solid reading list at the back of this collection, so scholars can easily access this documents. Overall, this collection brings new knowledge to Woolf studies, and it also serves as a fine tribute to an author we still mourn but also celebrate for her distinct influence on the world. Molly youngkin California State University DomÃ-nguez Hill Dark Humor & Satire Lisa Colletta. Dark Humor and Social Satire in the Modern British Novel. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. 154 pp. $69.95 LISA COLLETTA has written a highly readable and intelligent study that follows a traditional format not usually found these days. She explores a topic (dark humor and satire in modern English fiction) by way of a theoretical introduction that treats Freud and Bergson, among other theorists of humor; and then she illustrates her argument in chapters that explicate novels by Virginia Woolf, Ivy ComptonBurnett , Evelyn Waugh, and Anthony Powell. She is aware that her 234 book reviews study is open to skeptical questioning. In what sense can ComptonBurnett , Waugh, and Powell be considered modernists? How does the "dark" humor she finds in their fiction accord with the "black" humor associated with such bona fide modernists as Heller, Vonnegut, Pynchon , and Nabokov? On what grounds is Woolf included in a group of dark humorists? She's certainly a modernist by virtue of her stylistic innovations and concern with states of consciousness; but a humorist? In Mrs. Dalloway? Although Colletta is not wholly successful in rebutting such skepticism , her study is of interest both for its theoretical commentary and for its practical criticism. In her introduction and first chapter she sets out her central proposals. Compton-Burnett, Waugh, and Powell , though commonly excluded from the modernist canon, should not be, for their "dark humor" is an important component of English modernism , addressing as it does "the nonrational, the unstable, and the fragmented" in social life, and resisting easy generic definition or political affiliation. Colletta distinguishes "dark humor" not only from the light humor of P. G. Wodehouse and the politically committed satire of George Orwell, but from the ameliorative aims of what she terms, too glibly perhaps, "traditional satire." Referring to Freud's famous example , she views dark humor as similar to "gallows humor"; its goal is not—obviously!—to achieve the reintegration of the (condemned) individual and society, but "to wrest from pain a momentary victory in laughter." Dark humor thus works in the service of the ego, and though politically ineffective, provides a means of coping, not least for women and minorities. Colletta's main influence is Freud, whose description of the three...