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Studies about representations of Latinidad in US and European media have identified stereotypes like criminalization and hypersexualization. Furthermore, it has been argued that comedy operates as a double-edged sword in exposing racism, as humor can be deployed to simultaneously mask/justify and show/denounce racial discrimination and monolithic representations of Latinidad. Using a feminist intersectional perspective that foregrounds constructions of masculinities and racialization/migration as exclusionary factors, this essay discusses how RTVE Playz, the digital platform of the Spanish public television aimed at young audiences, represents Latinidad in its series Riders (2021). Situated within the dynamics of racialization in Spain, Riders stands out as an example of dark humor that both complicates and reinforces stereotypes. Through a close reading of the series, we assess its response to current social, political and cultural citizenship challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influx of digital streaming platforms from 2005 to 2008 enabled more nuanced representations of Jewish cultures, rituals, and subjects than on traditional distribution platforms. In front of and behind the camera, Jewish women, once marginalized, are now taking center stage and portraying the complexities of Jewish American life. Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson (creators of Broad City) and Rachel Bloom (creator of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) successfully navigated open-access digital streaming platforms to promote their comedic work, then modified their content to meet the needs of broadcast and cable networks and later subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) platforms. These content creators adapted traditional motifs of Jewish humor by infusing their work with contemporary, popular feminist sensibilities and applying narrative tactics specific to digital technology. This article examines the new common tropes produced by these Jewish American women creators of comedic digital streaming content as well as the historical, technological, and economic factors that gave rise to those tropes. Glazer, Jacobson, and Bloom inspired numerous subsequent content creators such as Jenji Kohan (creator of Orange Is the New Black), Joey Soloway (creator of Transparent), Amy Sherman-Palladino (creator of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Tiffany Haddish (creator of the comedy special Black Mitzvah), and Natasha Lyonne (cocreator of Russian Doll), who have also incorporated these tropes and been at the forefront of Jewish comedy, particularly in twenty-first-century digital streaming programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Medicina y Cine / Journal of Medicine & Movies is the property of Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This essay discusses the construction of Mexico in the writings of André Breton as “the surrealist place par excellence.” I focus on Breton’s claim that Mexico is “the chosen land of black humor” through an analysis of his literary sources and his engagement with the printmaker José Guadalupe Posada. I then address Breton’s presentation of Mexico in France through the 1939 exhibition Mexique, which was Frida Kahlo’s Parisian debut, and the article “Souvenir du Mexique,” published in the surrealist journal Minotaure.

Humor is generally known to effectively help individuals manage distress. Yet a variety of ways exist to engage in humor, and not all of them may be equally associated with desirable outcomes. The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which dark humor is associated with the subjective well-being of United States military veterans. An online survey was announced on several social media pages populated by US veterans, to which 93 fully responded. Our findings indicate that the use of dark humor does not appear to be associated with a sense of connectedness, but the reported use of self-defeating types of dark humor was associated with lower levels of life satisfaction. Our hypothesis that increased feelings of connectedness to civilian and veteran/active-duty friends would predict increased reports of overall subjective well-being was supported. The implications of these findings for understanding the functions of dark humor are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While schadenfreude is commonly experienced in interpersonal relationships, it is generally considered immoral. Although previous research has explored the factors relating to schadenfreude, including certain personality traits, moral disengagement, and humor styles, our understanding of these factors remains limited. The present study examined the mediating effects of moral disengagement and aggressive humor style in the relationship between the Dark Triad traits and schadenfreude. Methods: In this study, a sample of 693 Iranian students (69.4% female), was recruited using a convenient sampling method, consisting of 330 undergraduate, 230 graduate, and 133 Ph.D. students. The trait schadenfreude scale, the short Dark Triad, the moral disengagement scale, and the aggressive humor style scale were measured through an online survey. Results: The study found that Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy were positively related to schadenfreude, aggressive humor style, and moral disengagement. Additionally, aggressive humor style and moral disengagement mediated the relationship between Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy with schadenfreude. Conclusion: This study provides insights into the complex relationships between Dark Triad traits, moral disengagement, aggressive humor style, and schadenfreude. The findings suggest that individuals with higher levels of Dark Triad traits may be more likely to experience pleasure from others' misfortunes. Furthermore, the study highlights the importance of moral disengagement and aggressive humor style as potential mechanisms underlying the relationship between Dark Triad traits and schadenfreude. Further research should be done to explore the motivational factors influencing schadenfreude in specific settings, thereby elucidating these connections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concepts currently operating in much medical microbiome research bear a curious resemblance to an ancient tradition of Western medicine. This tradition, humoral medicine, is concerned with the four humors: yellow and black bile, phlegm, blood. Both humoral medicine and medical microbiome research use notions of imbalance and balance for broad explanations of disease and health. Both traditions also hold that the composition of humors or microbiomes determines bodily as well as mental states. Causality in each system is often conceived teleologically, meaning that humors or microbiomes "function for" the maintenance of the whole. And ultimately, each framework situates the humors or microbiomes in a multilevel interactionist theory that conceptualizes individual health within a broader environmental context. As well as critically assessing the parallels between these systems, this article sketches some explanations of how they may have arisen. The authors also evaluate the implications of these similarities for the future of medical microbiome research and suggest ways in which the field might move forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we propose to analyze how healthcare personnel involved in organ and tissue procurement activities use black humor during their daily work. The objective here is twofold: on the one hand, following previous studies, we are interested in showing the role of black humor as a way of dealing with death. On the other hand, we suggest that, in a parallel and complementary way, in this context black humor exposes a performative sense as a form of agency that attempts to modify an adverse reality. This work combines the methodological tools provided by ethnography and conducting open, multi-session interviews. The events revealed during the fieldwork and interviews that associate humor and brain death show the uses, limits and ways in which black humor operates in daily healthcare work of physical and emotional complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article shares the story about the wedding ceremony of Catherine and Anthony at Ferndale Library in Washington where Catherine works as a clerk. It considers the Ferndale Library as the safe place and attributes the decision of the couple to hold their wedding ceremony at Ferndale Library to the sense of belonging that Catherine feels in this place. Also noted is the taking of photos of the couple at the main library area after the ceremony.

As a writer, editor, scholar, and activist, Toni Cade Bambara left an indelible imprint on African American literature and Black feminist thought. This article elucidates Bambara's significance to Black women's humorous practice and articulates the mutuality between Black feminism's ongoing project to render Black women visible and to recover and engage in the bounty of Black women's humorous expression. Through her "cut on the bias" approach to using humor in the short story "Medley," Bambara offers an "alternate design sensibility" of racial and gender difference that illuminates the perspective of being Black and female. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the intersection of humour and humanitarianism in engaging Northern audiences with global Southern poverty issues. It analyses witty social media campaigns that critique humanitarian practices and Africa's representation, notably What's Up Africa (WUA) on YouTube, Radi‐Aid on YouTube, Humanitarians of Tinder on Tumblr and Barbie Savior on Instagram. Using 'contraflow', it shows how humour and positionality shape reception. WUA's Black African‐centric comedy, particualrly, highlights the often‐underexplored role of race in development discourse, challenging the White institutional core of humanitarianism. These insights reveal power dynamics and invite further academic inquiry into the transformative potential of comedic humanitarian critique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The representation of "pest" animals in mass media can reflect wider societal attitudes about belonging, race, and purity. In New Zealand, the Australian brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) is portrayed as the nation's top enemy. This project examined online news articles published in New Zealand between 2016 and 2023 to explore how possums were framed after the creation of the Predator Free 2050 "pest" eradication campaign that sought to eradicate all invasive rats, stoats, and possums. Through a process of qualitative thematic analysis, it was discovered that themes of militancy, economy, and desensitization of cruelty were paired with dark humor and extreme objectification of possums. This has created a culture of creaturely racism and speciesist xenophobia that presents cruelty as patriotism. A new media ethics that prioritizes an intersectional, anti-speciesist praxis is necessary to prevent the nation's enculturation of vigilante slayers who are encouraged to kill those deemed to not belong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Vietnamese cinema industry today, state-sponsored (formerly known as revolutionary cinema) and commercial cinema (held by private entertainment groups) are the two cinema mainstreams that dominate the film market. The third, but lesser known, mode is a diverse range of new independent films. With an aesthetics of socialist realism, governmental cinema often shows less “dream” in the ordinary, personal, and secular sense. However, it often turns to grand visions and symbols that impress upon the whole community concepts like “a brighter tomorrow.” Meanwhile, commercial cinema follows the capitalist model of cultural reproduction, presenting pragmatic dreams about a prosperous, successful, and beautiful life to stimulate viewers to work, consume goods and services for tourism and entertainment, and accumulate wealth. Meanwhile, young independent directors of the 1990s generation in Vietnam today are deploying the cinematic language of black comedy and magical realism to resist the pragmatic consumerist and “land of tomorrow” ideologies of the two mainstream tendencies. In the movies of the independents, dreamlike and fanciful elements occupy equally important, essential, organic places. Dreaming becomes a way of escaping the politics of the space or the ideologies embedded in dreams of the future that influence people consciously and subconsciously. This paper also explores the possibility that Vietnamese independent films can create new narrative potentials and interpretations of people’s inner lives in the postsocialist era through a unique and anti-traditional cinematic aesthetic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Video game content has evolved over the last six decades, from a basic focus on challenge and competition to include more serious and introspective narratives capable of encouraging critical contemplation within gamers. The "No Russian" mission from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 casts players as terrorists responsible for the murder of innocent bystanders, sparking debate around how players engage and react to wanton violence in modern video games. Through thematic analysis of 649 Reddit posts discussing the mission, 10 themes emerged representing complexity in player experiences. Those themes were grouped into categories representing (descending order), (1) rote gameplay experiences, (2) dark humor, (3) comparing the mission to other games and real-world events, and (4) self-reflective eudaimonic reactions to the mission. Although less common, the presence of eudaimonic media effects (in at least 15% of posts) holds promise for the use of video games as reflective spaces for violence prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a review of two episodes from the television series "Masters of the Air." Episode 7 focuses on the 100th Bombardment Group's war experiences, including the challenges they faced and the changes in aerial strategy and tactics. It also explores the story of two American prisoners of war in a German camp. Episode 8 introduces the Tuskegee Airmen of the 99th Fighter Squadron and their ground attack role during World War II. The review highlights the realistic portrayal of the POW experience and the contributions of airpower during the D-Day invasion. [Extracted from the article]

This article presents a comparative analysis of Henrik Ibsen's play En folkefiende [An Enemy of the People, 1882] and its adaptation into a graphic novel by Javi Rey (2022). The plot revolves around Dr Tomas Stockmann's discovery that the water of the touristic baths of his hometown is polluted and his futile attempt to convince his fellow citizens to take action. I argue that this can be read as an allegory of specific aspects of the Anthropocene. Moreover, while both works address the production of ignorance about human environmental change, the graphic novel possesses medium-specific ways of depicting the gap between knowledge and action. Finally, while the play is a black comedy, the graphic novel conveys a stronger faith in democratic pedagogy, adapted to twenty-first-century discourses on climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigated the relationships of the Dark Triad traits, humor styles, and schadenfreude with 169 participants who completed the Short Dark Triad, the Humor Style Questionnaire, and a measure of schadenfreude. Significant correlations imply that those with salient dark traits (psychopathy, Machiavellianism, narcissism) elicit pleasure from others' misfortune. Additionally, schadenfreude can be a product of self‐defeating and aggressive humor styles. Indirect effect analysis revealed the significance of the indirect effect of the measured aggressive humor style on the Dark Triad's direct effects on schadenfreude. These results imply that those with salient Dark Triad traits enjoy others' misery as a means to undermine them. Hence, individuals with salient Dark Triad traits tend to engage in downward social comparison. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim. This study aims to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the absurdities inherent in combat events as depicted in Joseph Heller's novel, Catch-22. The study seeks to explore how Heller utilizes literary techniques such as sarcasm, black humor, and surrealism to portray the contradictions, irrationality, and overall absurd nature of war. Additionally, the study aims to unfold the deeper societal implications, including dehumanization and moral degradation, presented in the novel. Method. The research method employed in this study is primarily a qualitative literary analysis. The analysis involves a close examination of the text of Catch-22, focusing on the novel's characters, plot structure, narrative techniques, and the use of literary devices. It engages in critical interpretation and evaluation of how Heller employs sarcasm, black humor to convey the absurdities of war. Results. The study reveals that Joseph Heller employs a unique set of literary techniques, including non-sequential narrative, broken chronology, and cyclical motifs, to vividly capture the chaotic and absurd nature of combat events. The analysis uncovers recurring themes such as bureaucratic absurdities, loss of personal agency, dehumanization, and the existential toll of war. The study highlights the significance of the Catch-22 paradox as a central motif, illustrating the circular and illogical nature of bureaucratic processes during war. Conclusion. Joseph Heller's Catch-22 serves as a powerful critique of the absurdities prevalent in wartime. The Catch-22 paradox emerges as a symbolic representation of bureaucratic folly, encapsulating the struggle of individuals caught in the machinery of conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frances McDonald's book, "Posthumorism: The Modernist Affect of Laughter," challenges the premise of humor studies by exploring posthumorist laughter, which she argues lies outside the field. McDonald draws on affect studies to analyze various texts, including Nathanael West's "The Day of the Locust" and Hélène Cixous' "The Book of Promethea," to demonstrate how writers use language to make laughter a central focus. She also incorporates philosophical concepts from Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari to present posthumorist laughter as a disruptive force that goes beyond individual emotions and traditional notions of humor. While McDonald's book has been criticized for its totalizing rhetoric and overlooking the diversity of modernist art, it offers a thought-provoking critique of humor studies and opens up new possibilities for understanding laughter. [Extracted from the article]

"Dead Funny: The Humor of American Horror" by David Gillota is a book that explores the relationship between humor and horror in American horror films. The author argues that humor is a prominent aspect of horror and contributes to the tone, themes, and structure of the genre. The book examines various humorous modes and devices used in horror, such as parody, comic monsters, body humor, camp, awkward humor, and satire. It offers close readings of films and analyzes their use of humor to provide social critique and commentary. Overall, the book provides new perspectives on the intersection of humor and horror in American cinema. [Extracted from the article]

The objective of this study was to gain insight into Trevor Noah's intention for employing dark humor through applying Attardo's humor function framework to his stand-up comedy performance "Son of Patricia. This qualitative research utilized a phenomenological methodology. The investigation aimed to explore the phenomenon of dark humor based on Trevor Noah's personal experiences as conveyed in his act. The study analyzed dark humor found in Trevor Noah's stand-up show "Son of Patricia" through the lens of Attardo's (1994) humor functions. The result showed that the frequent humor function found was defunctionalisation for amusement and the jokes often involve playing with the language followed with social management, decommitment and mediation. Exploring the multifaceted humor function of dark humor in Trevor Noah's show "Son of Patricia" revealed a nuanced and thought-provoking approach to comedy. Noah skillfully employed dark humor as a tool for social management, shedding light on sensitive issues such as race, politics, and societal norms. While dark humor can be polarizing, Trevor Noah demonstrates its potential as a powerful vehicle for social commentary and awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigated the relationships of the Dark Triad traits, humor styles, and schadenfreude with 169 participants who completed the Short Dark Triad, the Humor Style Questionnaire, and a measure of schadenfreude. Significant correlations imply that those with salient dark traits (psychopathy, Machiavellianism, narcissism) elicit pleasure from others' misfortune. Additionally, schadenfreude can be a product of self‐defeating and aggressive humor styles. Indirect effect analysis revealed the significance of the indirect effect of the measured aggressive humor style on the Dark Triad's direct effects on schadenfreude. These results imply that those with salient Dark Triad traits enjoy others' misery as a means to undermine them. Hence, individuals with salient Dark Triad traits tend to engage in downward social comparison. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite increasing interest in the relationship between humor and psychological distress, investigations have failed to focus on specific categories of humor and negative mental conditions. A sample of 686 Italian participants (187 men and 499 women), aged between 20 and 76 years, completed an online survey, data from which was used to investigate the relationship between eight comic styles, depression, anxiety, and stress. Findings from the multiple linear regression demonstrate benign humor as a protective factor of all three variables considered, while irony was positively associated with anxiety and stress. Wit was a protective factor associated with anxiety, while sarcasm was positively related to depression. No significant correlations emerged between the other variables considered. These findings highlight how specific categories are linked to varying dimensions of emotional distress, which are discussed with reference to the extant literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Stay Cool: Why Dark Comedy Matters in the Fight against Climate Change" by Aaron Sachs explores how dark humor can help us confront the climate crisis. Sachs argues that dark humor serves as a coping strategy, creates distance in heated debates, and builds camaraderie among those who share similar concerns. The book also examines the intersections between African American and Jewish traditions of dark humor and climate change humor. While the book offers lively anecdotes and a personable voice, it may overlook social justice concerns and lacks in-depth analysis and theoretical exploration. [Extracted from the article]

The article argues that the alien monster of Jordan Peele's Nope (2022) should be read as part of the long legacy of capitalist monster octopuses, and that identification and recognition of the monster octopus in this context allows for a greater understanding of Peele's specifically gothic critique of capitalism within the film. The article reviews the history of the monster octopus in literature, art, cinema, and political cartoon, outlines Nope's relationship to and development of these earlier texts, and then examines how the film uses the monster octopus to highlight capitalism as a monstrous system that we can neither survive nor afford to look away from. Critical perspectives explored in the article include Gothic Studies, Financial History, and Critical Race Theory, and Nope is examined as an example of the Economic Humanities in contemporary horror cinema. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This observation about the connection between power and audience laughter provides a fascinating perspective, one that is well illuminated by Noé's analysis of Kristen Schaal's special. Noé presents this dynamic between Schaal and the audience as a critical defining element of alternative comedy and reasons that the audience is receptive to a woman "performing disengagement with power" (67); Schaal is popular because she is willing to give up, take back, and exchange power with the audience throughout the performance. While the women comedians do escape the mainstream audience's traditional views of gender by performing in alternative spaces, it is alternative comedy's potential to play with power that shapes their comedic mode, particularly the power to control people's laughter. [Extracted from the article]

The mass shooting in May 2022 at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, served to reinforce the serious impact of gun violence in the United States of America. As typically occurs in the aftermath of these events, the Uvalde shooting prompted robust public discourse around not just the incident itself, but the causes and potential solutions to gun violence. In this article, we conduct a novel examination of an aspect of the post-mass shooting discourse: the use of sarcasm and mocking to convey partisan arguments on social media. Using a dataset of 2,182 Twitter replies to mainstream media posts about the case (n=14), this research isolates sarcastic and mocking tweets to assess prevalence, as well as the specific characteristics of the dark humor observed. The relationship between political ideology and sarcastic and/or mocking rhetoric is discussed, as is the connection between preestablished 'disaster scripts' and sarcastic responses to the same on social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Dignity (al-Karama) Uprising of May of 2021 broke many "rules of engagement" between Palestinians and the settler state of Israel, including that of sarcasm and humor. Spreading swiftly from Jerusalem to all of historic Palestine, the uprising defied cooptation by the Palestinian Authority, an entity that has long maintained a buffer between its people and the settler state. Hence, and throughout the confrontations, a point-blank range was created allowing for the usage of all sorts of "weapons" in the Palestinian people's humble arsenal, humor included. This essay, originally written during the uprising and in Arabic, records the Palestinians' ability to ridicule the Israeli settler violence to which it is subjected, through black comedy - "sprinkling sugar on their own death." By contextualizing the grand event of 2021 politically and culturally, and de-theorizing humor to its core, this article brings to the historical record the Jerusalemites' invention of "red humor," colored with their blood, that appeared in different performative acts targeting Israeli human power; military machinery; repressive policies; and modes of "negotiation." Tracing the "black" into the "red" in expressions of humor as a tool in the arsenal of this uprising offers a record of a powerful, and often used, means of empowerment and resistance for Palestinians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literary topic of Siamese twins is not unfamiliar. American literary history tells us of the genealogy from Mark Twain’s pseudo-antebellum story The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson and the Comedy Those Extraordinary Twins (1894), Karen Tei Yamashita’s postmodern metafiction “Siamese Twins and Mongoloids: Cultural Appropriation and the Deconstruction of Stereotype via the Absurdity of Metaphor” (1999), down to Shelley Jackson’s James Tiptree, Jr. award winner Half-Life (2006). Rereading these works, we are easily invited to notice the political unconscious hidden deep within each plot: Twain’s selection of the Italian Siamese twins based upon Chang and Eng Bunker, antebellum stars of the Barnum Museum, cannot help but recall the ideal of the post-Civil War world uniting the North and the South; Yamashita’s figure of the conjoined twins Heco and Okada derives from Hikozo Hamada, an antebellum Japanese who made every effort to empower the bond between Japan and the United States, and John Okada, the Japanese American writer well known for his masterpiece No No Boy (1957); and Jackson’s characterization of the female conjoined twins Nora and Blanche Olney represents a new civil rights movement in the post-Cold War age in the near future, establishing a close friendship between the humans and the post-humans. This literary and cultural context should convince us that Yamashita’s short story “Siamese Twins and Mongoloids” serves as a kind of singularity point between realist twins and magic realist twins. Influenced by Twain’s twins, Yamashita paves the way for the re-figuration of the conjoined twins not only as tragi-comical freaks in the Gilded Age but also as representative men of magic realist America in our Multiculturalist Age. A Close reading of this metafiction composed in a way reminiscent of Jorge Luis Borges, Stanislaw Lem and Bruce Sterling will enable us to rediscover not only the role conjoined twins played in cultural history, but also the reason why Yamashita had to feature them once again in her novel I Hotel (2010) whose plot centers around the Asian American civil rights movement between the 1960s and the 1970s. Accordingly, an Asian American magic realist perspective will clarify the way Yamashita positioned the figure of Siamese Twins as representing legal and political double standards, and the way the catachresis of Siamese Twins came to be naturalized, questioned and dismissed in American literary history from the 19th century through the 21st century.

The article "Youth and Memes: Sarcasm as a Form of Mockery" analyzes the use of memes by university students on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The study identifies that the memes shared by young people are characterized by an element of mockery, including mockery of their own and others' misfortunes. It is concluded that memes are a form of communication that conveys emotions and feelings, and that includes elements such as sarcasm and dark humor. The research project used a hermeneutic approach and a qualitative methodology to conduct a critical discourse analysis and netnography. The results revealed categories of analysis related to the concept, consumption, typology, viralization, temporality, and creation of memes. The article analyzes the perception and consumption of memes in relation to the ability to synthesize ideas and generate sarcastic humor. It also mentions the use of memes in the political context, especially during the presidential elections in Colombia. It is concluded that memes can contribute to the reinforcement of stereotypes and the normalization of gender violence. [Extracted from the article]

The article analyzes the relationship between the presentation and representation of political violence in two stories about the armed conflict in Peru between 1980 and 2000. It focuses on the stories "Adiós Ayacucho" by Julio Ortega and "Voces de Infiernillo" by Laynes, which explore the effects of violence on subalternized subjects. It discusses how reading relates to narration and affects, highlighting the differences between both stories in terms of the presentation and representation of violence. "Adiós Ayacucho" tells the story of Alfonso Cánepa, who is accused of terrorism, tortured, and murdered by agents of the Peruvian state, but continues to speak and seeks to be buried whole. The story uses humor, while "Voces de Infiernillo" amplifies the feeling of anguish and desolation. The text analyzes two stories, one of them titled "Cánepa," in which the presence of the voice is highlighted as an organic element that develops autonomously and partially in relation to the body. The use of black humor is emphasized as a resource that generates an affective complicity between the narrator and the reader. In addition, the absence of a visceral reaction to the violence represented in the narration is mentioned. On the other hand, a contrast is established between coastal and highland sensitivity, highlighting the ability of Limeños to laugh at themselves. It is suggested that this difference reflects the relationship between officialdom and Limean culture with the problem of violence in the highlands. The perpetuation of subalternity as a historical and political condition is also mentioned. In another analyzed story, titled "Voces de Infiernillo," the experience of Pascuala, a Quechua-speaking woman from Ayacucho, who suffers the violent invasion of the police and the kidnapping of her son, is narrated. The text analyzes two stories, "Adiós Ayacucho" by Julio Ortega and "Infiernillo" by Emilio Laynes, which address political violence in Peru during the war between the State and the Shining Path. Both stories present detailed descriptions of violated bodies and acts of abuse, humiliation, and indifference. The narration of the stories influences the way the reader emotionally engages with the stories, generating an atmosphere of repulsion and desolation. These texts are acts of revising the narrative code and represent the experience of those who have been forced into subalternity. [Extracted from the article]

Humour is the predominant element in all the novels of Chetan Bhagat. His novels contain 'black humour' which is a form of humour that presents sorrows and sufferings as very mean or that regards human existence as ironic and pointless but somehow comic. 'Black humour' is also called 'Black Comedy' or 'Dark Humour', and the idea that people are powerless victims of fate and character is frequently used to illustrate farce and low humour. The novelist uses humour to reflect the realistic picture of contemporary society. Humour can be more successful in one's native language. Though the novelist writes in English, he uses very simple language which seems to be one's own native tongue. The present paper is an attempt to explore humorous elements in Chetan Bhagat's most recent two novels, 'The Girl in Room 105' and 'One Arranged Murder', with special reference to black humour and satire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Al-Academy is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

1. Introduction: black satire from literary, philosophical, or historical points of view. Black satire appears in the work of poets or writers in whose thoughts elements of commitment and responsibility permeate, on the grounds that real black satire cannot be realized without writers positioning themselves critically towards things, and as we know, criticism itself is a manifestation of commitment. In committed and meaning-oriented contemporary literature, satire is more moral, therefore it is less close to humor, black comedy, and lampoon, and rarely mixes with them. Therefore, the field of satirist's involvement includes intellectual, religious, political, social, moral, literary and even economic issues. In this research, the grotesque elements in two works, Prince Ehtjab by Houshang Golshiri and Shop of Suicide by the French writer Jean Teulé, are examined and compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moortje (Little Moor, 1617) is an adaptation of Terence's The Eunuch, in which the Dutch playwright Gerbrand Adriaensz Bredero replaced the castrate with a 'Moor'. Scholars have demonstrated how Moortje renders an early modern discourse of race that, at the threshold of Dutch participation in colonial trade, facilitated the enslavement and trafficking of African people. This article aims to do justice to the polyphonic discussion on colonial trade in the seventeenth-century Republic, arguing that Moortje can also be read as a foreshadowing of postcolonial shame and 'white innocence'. It does so through an analysis of race at the intersections with gender, focusing on the distinct processes through which two women in the play – one black and one white – are commodified on the market and appropriated by their new owner. It also analyses two paratexts in which Bredero compares the cultural appropriation of classical comedy to colonial appropriation. Together, the analyses indicate that racial thinking, although closely intertwined with the discourse on trade, does not in all respects facilitate the commodification and appropriation of the black woman. Rather blackness in Moortje represents the unknown, both in terms of colonial trade and its effects for the conscience of the white merchant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the importance of accessibility in readers' advisory and the value of providing a wide range of book formats to accommodate readers with different abilities and preferences. Topics discussed include the various format options available for readers, including audio books, large print, and e-books with adjustable screen settings.