Humor Me: An Anthology of Humor by Writers of Color [Paperback]

John McNally (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 5, 2002

The first anthology of its kind, Humor Me is a celebration of humor by authors from diverse cultures. Sixteen of today's most exciting writers—among them Sherman Alexie, Gish Jen, Charles Johnson, and Lucille Clifton—are represented in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, drama, cartoons, and graphic narratives. Whether using satire, parody, or farce, these writers explore the universal themes of love, family, sex, and race, and they do so in their own edgy, subversive, and sometimes skewed ways.

In Sherman Alexie's short story “Assimilation,” a Coeur d’Alene woman wants to cheat on her white husband with an Indian man, any Indian man—or, as Alexie puts it, “an indigenous stranger.” In Sandra Tsing Loh's essay “Daddy Dearest,” the author cringes when an old friend asks if her father still wears his underwear backward and does the Chinese snake dance on Pacific Coast Highway.

Nothing in Humor Me is taboo, as Erika Lopez proves in her illustrated tale of one environmentally conscious woman's attempt to subvert the tampon industry. Jim Northrup even takes on that American institution Jeopardy! in his satire “Shinnob Jep,” describing a game that quizzes its contestants on Native American trivia, including the categories “Trick or Treaties” and “Rez Cars.”

From low-brow to high-brow, from belly laughs to the cerebral, Humor Me places internationally renowned writers such as Charles Johnson and Gish Jen alongside rising stars Paisley Rekdal and Michele Serros and a host of newcomers, including Aimee Nezhukumatathil and Daniel Chacón.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This book developed out of frustrations felt by McNally, author of the well-received short story collection Troublemakers, when he prepared to teach a course on humor in American literature. He found that minority writers were almost completely ignored. Here, he takes a small step toward remedying the situation. The editor observes that not all these pieces are by writers who identify as humorists, and that the role of humor varies broadly among them. Nor is race the central theme of the book, since a good portion of the humor hinges on more universal themes of sex, ambition and ladder climbing. Among the 10 short pieces of fiction here, Daniel Chacón's "Godoy Lives" is excellent but more darkly ironic than funny: an illegal immigrant finds himself welcomed by the cousin of the dead man whose ID he is using. The poetry (including pieces by Lucille Clifton and Paisley Rekdal) is decent, but not necessarily chuckle-inducing. Author Charles Johnson has submitted a few funny cartoons, but he doesn't deserve 27 pages worth. Among three pieces of nonfiction, Sherman Alexie's "White Men Can't Drum" and Sandra Tsing Loh's "Daddy Dearest" both amuse. Finally, the one piece of drama included, Jim Northrup's "Shinnob Jep," a parody of Jeopardy, offers darkly caustic comments on Native American life, but overextends the premise. The editor states that he received fewer than a dozen submissions for this anthology, and the mix of poetry, cartoon, fiction and nonfiction he ended up with is finally diffuse. (Apr.)
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This collection of representative work fiction, poems, cartoons, and drama by writers of color (e.g., Sherman Alexie, Gish Jen, and Sandra Tsing Loh) is very much a matter of personal taste. The initiated are likely to find it full of wonderful hits, whereas others, if they can get into it at all, are likely to shrug it off as basic collegiate raunch. Despite its marvelous come-hither title, there's nothing likely to yank a tendon on anyone's side. Charles Johnson's cartoon comes closest, but the overall effect is like a bad telephone connection; something is being said, but it requires a well-attuned ear to make out exactly what. Several writers have an almost feverish fascination with sex and seem to wallow in life's seamy underside. By now this is hardly new or shocking, merely tiresome in being so commonplace. While this reviewer cannot encourage a general readership, he cannot bring himself to discourage adventurous types whom nothing will dismay. For larger humor and multicultural collections. A.J. Anderson, GSLIS, Simmons Coll., Boston
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: University Of Iowa Press (March 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877458081
• ISBN-13: 978-0877458081
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,139,195 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John McNally is the author of three novels, After the Workshop, America's Report Card, and The Book of Ralph; and two story collections, Ghosts of Chicago and Troublemakers. He has edited six anthologies, including Who Can Save Us Now: Brand-New Superheroes and Their Amazing (Short) Stories (co-edited with Owen King). John's short stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in over ninety magazines, newspapers, and anthologies, including Virginia Quarterly Review, Washington Post, The Sun, Open City, Chicago Tribune, New Sudden Fiction (Norton), and Long Story Short (University of North Carolina Press). His work has appeared in the textbooks Winding Roads: Exercises in Writing Creative Nonfiction and Behind the Short Story: From First Draft to Final Draft, both published by Longman. John has been the recipient of numerous awards for his writing, including a Chesterfield Writer's Film Project for screenwriting (sponsored by Paramount Pictures), the Jenny McKean Moore fellowship for fiction (sponsored by George Washington University), and the Carl Djerassi fellowship from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing at the University of Wisconsin. His short stories have been cited three times as an outstanding story of the year in the Best American Short Stories series (1991, 2007, and 2008). John has taught creative writing at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Western State College of Colorado, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of South Florida at Tampa, George Washington University, and Columbia College Chicago. He has given over a hundred readings all across the country, from New York City to Honolulu, from Bellingham, Washington, to Sanibel Island, Florida. A native of Chicago's southwest side, he is at present an associate professor of English at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he lives with his wife, Amy, and their many animals.