Ladies Laughing: Wit as Control in Contemporary American Women Writers

This engaging and accessible book examines the world of seven contemporary, popular American women writers and their individual use of wit as a subtle and effective strategy to engage, or "control" , the reader. A chapter is devoted to each of the seven writers - Lisa Alther, Rita Mae Brown, Nora Ephron, Shirley Jackson, Alison Lurier, Grace Paley, and Anne Tyler - and discusses their writings and their use of wit in the context of their lives. An opening chapter frames wit and control in psychological realities, and a concluding chapter summarizes the power of wit. A bibliography of the writers' works is also included, making this an ideal introduction and companion to these writers and their works.

Barbara Levy currently teaches in the Institute for English Language Programs at Harvard University and was a professor in the Department of English, College of Humanities, at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras campus, for eighteen years.