LAUGHING FIT TO KILL

Black Humor in the Fictions of Slavery

GLENDA R. CARPIO

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2008

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Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford Universitys objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With ofces in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam

Copyright 2008 by Oxford University Press, Inc.

Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York, 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. A version of chapter 3 was previously published as Conjuring the Mysteries of Slavery: Voodoo, Fetishism, and Stereotype in Ishmael Reeds Flight to Canada, American Literature 77, no. 3 (2005): 56389. Reproduced courtesy of American Literature. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Carpio, Glenda. Laughing t to kill : black humor in the ctions of slavery / by Glenda R. Carpio. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-19-530470-1; 978-0-19-530469-5 (pbk.) 1. American literatureAfrican American authorsHistory and criticism. 2. African American wit and humorHistory and criticism. 3. Black humor. 4. Slavery in literature. 5. Comic, The, in literature. 6. African Americans in literature. I. Title. PS153.N5C373 2008 817.009'352996073dc22 2007041364

1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

CONTENTS

Introduction 1 Lafn t ter kill: Black Humor in the Fiction of William Wells Brown and Charles W. Chesnutt 2 The Conjurer Recoils: Slavery in Richard Pryors Performances and Chappelles Show 3 Conjuring the Mysteries of Slavery: Voodoo, Fetishism, and Stereotype in Ishmael Reeds Flight to Canada 4 A Comedy of the Grotesque: Robert Colescott, Kara Walker, and the Iconography of Slavery 5 The Tragicomedy of Slavery in Suzan-Lori Parkss Early Plays Notes Bibliography Index

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