Original scientific paper
Columbus Got It All Wrong: Humor in Louise Erdrich’s Novel The Round House
Diana Prodanović Stankić
; Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad
Aleksandra Izgarjan
; Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad
Abstract
Humor in the novel The Round House functions as a double-voiced discourse, subverting Anglo-American master narratives and exposing the long history of violence against the Anishinaabe tribe. The article employs several theoretical frameworks–Bakhtin’s theory of humor, Bamberg’s notion of counter-narrative and the concept of the trickster figure and Native American comic vision, as used by Vizenor, Deloria, Blaeser and Gross – in order to analyze the ways Erdrich brings into play different master narratives in the American and Native American communities. Erdrich’s humor reconfigures negative gender and racial stereotypes about Native Americans, while her parody of science fiction, especially the trope of alien and close encounters, reverses the rhetoric of discovery and colonization. Thus, the focus is on the interplay of the science fiction genre with various forms of humor, such as intergroup humor and humor as a counter narrative. The article also explores the role of tricksters in the novel, not only as bearers of comic vision but also as transformers of gender categories.
Keywords
Louise Erdrich; The Round House; humor; counter-narrative; trickster; science fiction
Hrčak ID:
212319
URI
Publication date:
11.12.2018.
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