ABSTRACT
This dissertation examines the role of humor in contemporary South Asian and
African postcolonial literature, arguing that humor opens new spaces for historically
marginalized individuals to be heard. I argue that in addition to its unique capacities to
question and rebel against colonial authority, humor helps those who deploy it to resist
victimhood and enact a psychological rebellion against the circumstances of colonialism
and its legacies, and facilitates a sense of community through laughter among both
those who deploy it and those who enjoy it as audience members. I establish a
theoretical framework based in the work of Aristotle, Henri Bergson, Sigmund Freud
and Mikhail Bakhtin, then analyze four modes of humor— satire, irony, black humor,
and the grotesque—as they are incorporated in Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o’s Wizard of the Crow
(Kenya, 2007); Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things (India, 1997); Bapsi Sidhwa’s
Cracking India (Pakistan; first published in 1988 as Ice-Candy Man); Manjula
Padmanabhan’s play Harvest (India, 1997); Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger (India,
2008); Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People (India, 2008) and Ousmane Sembène’s Xala
(Senegal, 1973). By reading these literary narratives within a unifying framework of
“humor,” even as I pay close attention to the differences between them—differences
such as their geographical locations, the political situations they engage, the specific
cultural codes with which they play, and their unique incorporations of particular
humorous modes—I contend that humor ultimately performs very significant work in
postcolonial literature, opening many destabilizing and subversive possibilities that
more ostensibly serious forms of writing do not share.
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Abstract Approved: ______________________________________
Thesis Supervisor
_______________________________________
Title and Department
______________________________________
Date
THE SERIOUS WORK OF HUMOR IN POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE
by
Adele Marian Holoch
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the
Doctor of Philosophy degree
in English
in the Graduate College of
The University of Iowa
December 2012
Thesis Supervisor: Associate Professor Priya Kumar
Copyright by
ADELE MARIAN HOLOCH
2012
All Rights Reserved
Graduate College
The University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa
CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL
___________________________
PH.D. THESIS
_____________
This is to certify that the Ph.D. thesis of
Adele Marian Holoch
has been approved by the Examining Committee
For the thesis requirement for the Doctor of Philosophy
Degree in English at the December 2012 graduation.
Thesis Committee: _______________________________
Priya Kumar, Thesis Supervisor
_______________________________
Anny Curtius
_______________________________
Mary Lou Emery
_______________________________
Claire Fox
_______________________________
Marie Kruger
To my family and friends for all their love and support
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am grateful to Professor Priya Kumar, for all the insight, understanding and support
she has offered as my adviser. I am also indebted to the other members of my committee,
Professor Claire Fox, Professor Marie Kruger, Professor Mary Lou Emery, and Professor Anny
Curtius. My family’s support has been a tremendous help through this process, and I have
especially appreciated the love, balance and perspective Peter, Ben, and Noah have provided. I
am also deeply grateful for the help and encouragement I have received from friends, including
Bridget, Amy, and Katherine, whose generosity has carried me through.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 1
What is the Postcolonial? 5
Postcolonial Literature 10
Theorizing Literary Humor 17
Four Modes of Humor 27
CHAPTER
I. THE POLYPHONIC PLAY OF SATIRE IN NGŨGĨ WA
THIONG’O’S WIZARD OF THE CROW 34
II. SMALL VOICES AND STRATEGIC SILENCES: IRONY IN
ARUNDHATI ROY’S THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS
AND BAPSI SIDHWA’S CRACKING INDIA 77
III. “A SUPERIOR REVOLT OF THE MIND”: BLACK HUMOR
IN MANJULA PADMANABHAN’S HARVEST AND ARAVIND
ADIGA’S THE WHITE TIGER 118
IV. “IF YOU DARE TO PITY ME/I’LL SHIT IN YOUR SHOE AND
PISS IN YOUR TEA”: PROFANITY AND THE GROTESQUE IN
OUSMANE SEMBÈNE’S XALA AND INDRA SINHA’S
ANIMAL’S PEOPLE 164
CONCLUSION 209
BIBLIOGRAPHY 214
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