Last Laughs (Studies in Gender and Culture)

The 19 original essays (and three Sylvia cartoons) included in this volume deal with the gender-specific nature of comedy. This pioneering collection observes the creation of women's comedy from a wide range of standpoints: political, sociological, psychoanalytical, linguistic, and historical. The writers explore the role of women's comedy in familiar and unfamilair territory, from Austen to Weldon, from Behn to Wasserstein. The questions they raise will lead to a redefinition of the genre itself. The essays in this volume also appear as volume 15, numbers 1-3 of the journal Women's Studies.