The Laughing Matter

Author : Joseph Heller,Speed Vogel
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 293 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2004-12-15
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780743272612

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No Laughing Matter by Joseph Heller,Speed Vogel Pdf

An uproarious and frank memoir of illness and recovery, No Laughing Matter is a story of friendship and recuperation from the author of the classic Catch-22. It all began one typical day in the life of Joe Heller. He was jogging four miles at a clip these days, working on his novel God Knows, coping with the complications of an unpleasant divorce, and pigging out once or twice a week on Chinese food with cronies like Mel Brooks, Mario Puzo, and his buddy of more than twenty years, Speed Vogel. He was feeling perfectly fine that day—but within twenty-four hours he would be in intensive care at Manhattan's Mount Sinai Hospital. He would remain hospitalized for nearly six months and leave in a wheelchair. Joseph Heller had Guillain-Barré syndrome, a debilitating, sometimes fatal condition that can leave its victims paralyzed from head to toe. The clan gathered immediately. Speed—sometime artist, sometime businessman, sometime herring taster, and now a coauthor—moved into Joe's apartment as messenger, servant, and shaman. Mel Brooks, arch-hypochondriac of the Western world, knew as much about Heller's condition as the doctors. Mario Puzo, author of the preeminent gangster novel of our time, proved to be the most reluctant man ever to be dragged along on a hospital visit. These and lots of others rallied around the sickbed in a show of loyalty and friendship that not only built a wild and spirited camaraderie but helped bring Joe Heller, writer and buddy extraordinaire, through his greatest crisis. This book is an inspiring, hilarious memoir of a calamitous illness and the rocky road to recuperation—as only the author of Catch-22 and the friend who helped him back to health could tell it. No Laughing Matter is as wacky, terrifying, and greathearted as any fiction Joseph Heller ever wrote.

Author : William Saroyan
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 218 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2014-12-18
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781448214761

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The Laughing Matter by William Saroyan Pdf

When Evan Nazarenus returns from a teaching post at the summer school in Nebraska, he cannot wait for a couple of blissful weeks spent with his wife and two children in Clovis, a small town where his brother has a summer house. But soon after they arrive for the long awaited holiday, Swan, Evan's wife, announces that she is expecting a child ... who is not fathered by Evan. This news shocks and hurts Evan deeply, but for his children's sake he decides to keep it to himself through the holidays they dreamt of for so long. But a family secret of such calibre is difficult to hide and the curious small-town neighbours begin to notice that something is amiss with the couple. The Laughing Matter, first published in 1953, is a disturbing family drama set against the landscape of a small Californian town, with a close-knit community who embrace new-comers with the curiosity of those hungry for gossip. William Saroyan draws his characters with immense sensitivity for human erring and self-inflicted suffering.

Author : Phil Callaway
Publisher : Multnomah
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2005-08-01
Category : Humor
ISBN : 9781590525388

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Laughing Matters by Phil Callaway Pdf

Find Out What’s So Funny When Nothing’s Funny Sometimes life just stinks—people disappoint, bad things happen, and hardship comes. Laughing Matters is a collection of stories that shows the difference between those who resign and those who rejoice when reality bites. Readers will be encouraged to choose joy, to find hope, and to discover the abundant life Christ offers all who follow Him. Author and humorist Phil Callaway—once described as “Dave Barry with a message”—employs his revealing and hilarious style to remind readers that, “it’s always darkest just before the fridge door opens.” Do you resign or rejoice when reality bites? Sometimes life just stinks. People disappoint. Bad things happen. Hardship comes in double helpings. The last thing you want to do is laugh. So let hilarious humorist Phil Callaway show you—as only he can—that some of the darkest times are those just before the fridge door opens. *** ** *** ** “Everything Phil Callaway writes is full of life because he’s discovered a fabulous secret: The joy of Christ doesn’t go away, even when life is a mess.” Luis Palau, President of the Luis Palau Evangelistic Association “Phil really knows how to get in touch with his spiritual funny bone.” Janette Oke, Bestselling author “One page into this book and I’m quaking with laughter. Callaway has the uncanny ability to uncover the funny in any situation and report it with inspirational wit.” Paul L. Maier, Coauthor of The DaVinci Code: Fact or Fiction? “This book is an excellent source of encouragement for anyone in the midst of a crisis who may be asking God that hardest question of all: ‘Why?’” Martha Bolton, Author of Cooking with Hot Flashes and Didn’t My Skin Used to Fit? Story Behind the Book Phil Callaway wrote this book after a five-year journey he and his wife embarked upon when she began having seizures. He discovered that when life throws you curve balls, juices lemons in your eyes, scrunches you in a knuckle sandwich…the last thing you want to do is laugh. And at the moment we realize that life can just plain stink, “this book helps us know where to go from that point,” he says. Celebrities like Dave Dravecky, Barbara Johnson, Gloria Gaither, and Joni Eareckson Tada have endorsed Callaway’s positive approach to trials. “Everything Phil Callaway writes is full of life because he’s discovered a fabulous secret: The joy of Christ doesn’t go away, even when life is a mess,” says evangelist Luis Palau.

Author : T.H.M. Gellar-Goad
Publisher : University of Michigan Press
Page : 291 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2020-03-02
Category : History
ISBN : 9780472131808

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Laughing Atoms, Laughing Matter by T.H.M. Gellar-Goad Pdf

"The aim of this study is to track De Rerum Natura along two paths of satire. One is the broad boulevard of satiric literature from the beginnings of Greek poetry to the plays, essays, and broadcast media of the modern world. The other is the narrower lane of Roman verse satire, satura, whose canon begins in the Middle Republic with Ennius and Lucilius and closes with Juvenal, an author of the Flavian era. The first main portion of this book (chapters 2-3) focuses on Lucretius and Roman satura, while the following chapters broaden the scope to satiric elements of Lucretius more generally, but still with plenty of reference to the poets of Roman satura as satirists par excellence. By examining how Lucretius' poem employs the tools, techniques, and tactics of satire-by evaluating how and where in De Rerum Natura the speaker functions as a satirist-we gain, I argue, a fuller, richer understanding of how the poem works and how its poetry interacts with its purported philosophical program. Attention to the role of De Rerum Natura in the more specific tradition of Roman verse satire demonstrates that Lucretius' poem stands as a detour on the genre's highway, a swerve in the trajectory of satura. The numerous satiric passages and frequently satiric narrator of De Rerum Natura draw on earlier Roman satire, and in turn the poem influences the later satiric verse of Horace, Persius, and Juvenal. While De Rerum Natura is not in and of itself a member of the Roman genre of satire, it is an important player in the genre's development"--

Author : Anthony Cronin
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 392 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2019
Category : Authors, Irish
ISBN : 1848407149

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No Laughing Matter by Anthony Cronin Pdf

Flann O'Brien's writing career was launched in 1939 with his brilliant first novel AT SWIM TWO BIRDS--a cult classic praised by James Joyce--quickly followed by other influential novels. But O'Brien lived a dark and tragic life, his writing obscured by various pseudonyms. Here Anthony Cronin, a member of O'Brien's intimate circle, offers a remarkable and fascinating portrait of the writer. photos.

Author : Angus Wilson
Publisher : Faber & Faber
Page : 512 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2012-03-15
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780571281213

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No Laughing Matter by Angus Wilson Pdf

A panoramic novel that stretches from 1912 to 1967 No Laughing Matter is perhaps Angus Wilson's most autobiographical novel. The novel chronicles the end of the bourgeois way of life as seen through the lives of the six Matthews children and their dysfuntional middle-class family. Their parents - Billy Pop and the Countess - are objects of ridicule to their children who vow never to make their mistakes. Quentin, the eldest, is a socialist who adores women. His fervent views, however, become distilled over the years until he transforms into a cynical TV pundit. Gladys, plump and amenable, is unlucky in love and eventually falls for the charms of a crook. Rupert, the handsome actor, has a successful career until he fails to adapt to the changing theatre. Margaret is a brilliant and highly acclaimed novelist but she becomes bitter as her twin Sukey sinks into domestic bliss, while Marcus, the baby of the family, believes that his career is his life. An ambitious and enriching novel No Laughing Matter is an extraordinary work in its depictions of complex family relationships, where it is just as easy to hate as to love and where everyone struggles to be an individual.

Author : Lee Siegel
Publisher : Motilal Banarsidass Publishe
Page : 528 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 1989
Category : Indic wit and humor
ISBN : 8120805488

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Laughing Matters by Lee Siegel Pdf

Author : Peter Medgyes
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 249 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2002-04-11
Category : Education
ISBN : 9780521799607

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Laughing Matters by Peter Medgyes Pdf

120 activities to inject some lighthearted fun into lessons whilst still being grounded in respected language learning theory.

Author : Kurt J. Kolka,Tom Batiuk
Publisher : David Crumm Media, LLC
Page : 114 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2014-07-21
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN : 193988067X

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Bullying Is No Laughing Matter by Kurt J. Kolka,Tom Batiuk Pdf

Millions of Americans follow the adventures of Beetle Bailey, Blondie, Luann, Dick Tracy, Gil Thorp and other top comic strip characters. We love to laugh at their adventures-and their misadventures. But, as the title of this powerful new comic book declares: Bullying Is No Laughing Matter. This full-color paperback represents a historic "team up" of America's cartoon favorites, who are springing from the funny pages into this big new book. They're united in encouraging kids to support each other when someone begins picking on them. National research shows that new forms of bullying follow kids wherever they go-inescapably plaguing them through social media on computers and smartphones. Some of the comic artists contributing to this book have even added personal notes sharing their own experiences with bullies-or offering brief words of encouragement to kids. This book is a unique resource encouraging kids to build supportive relationships by starting with familiar characters they may have grown up with or will enjoy meeting in these pages. Many of these brief comics are presented as discussion prompts, starting a story about bulling and then inviting kids to consider: What will happen next? How would you respond? The format of this comic book is unusual. It's a "flip book" with two covers and two pathways through these comic adventures. The front cover takes kids (and the adults who love them) through dozens of individual comic panels and strips. Most of these pages contain personal notes from the creators of these comics. The "other cover" takes kids (and their parents, teachers and youth leaders) through a graphic novel starring a youthful super hero, The Cardinal. The Cardinal confronts a seemingly horrible "enemy"-the Warthog-but readers discover that there's far more to this bully than we guess in our first glimpse. In the middle of the book, The Cardinal author and artist Kurt J. Kolka tells his own story of overcoming the effects of bullying, and Camille Paddock, a teenage girl who has become a real-life hero for her own triumph over bullying tells her story as well. Amazingly, readers discover that the Warthog and young Camille share similar crises in their lives. Kids can easily internalize these lessons about compassion and the courage necessary to help end bullying. Bullying Is No Laughing Matter unites 36 nationally distributed comic strips, many of them specifically addressing the issue of bullying for the first time in this publication. Readers will enjoy colorful visits from such regulars on the funny pages as Beetle Bailey, Blondie, Dennis the Menace, Dick Tracy, Funky Winkerbean, Gil Thorp, Luann, Stone Soup, Mary Worth, and many more.

Author : Marcel Gutwirth
Publisher : Cornell University Press
Page : 236 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 1993
Category : Comic, The
ISBN : 0801427835

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Laughing Matter by Marcel Gutwirth Pdf

With the help of theorists in such fields as psychology, anthropology, physiology, sociology, and folklore as well as literary criticism, Gutwirth perceives that writers across history have attempted to explain laughter in one of three ways - focusing on its social or political function, its emotional rationale, or its intellectual dimension. Offering an array of readings of comic texts and incidents, he constructs a general model of laughter which takes into account its causes, immediate effects, and long-range influence on human affairs. In conclusion, he looks at the unique nature of comic wisdom, particularly as reflected in works by Santayana, Cervantes, and Beckett.

Author : G. Legman
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 822 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2007-11-01
Category : Humor
ISBN : 9781416595731

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Rationale of the Dirty Joke by G. Legman Pdf

Why do people tell dirty jokes? And what is it about a joke's dirtiness that makes it funny? G. Legman was perhaps the foremost scholar of the dirty joke, and as legions of humor writers and comedians know, his Rationale of the Dirty Joke remains the most exhaustive and authoritative study of the subject. More than two thousand jokes and folktales are presented, covering such topics as The Female Fool, The Fortunate Fart, Mutual Mismatching, and The Sex Machine. These folk texts are authentically transcribed in their innocent and sometimes violent entirety. Legman studies each for its historical and socioanalytic significance, revealing what these jokes mean to the people who tell them and to the people who listen and laugh. Here -- back in print -- is the definitive text for comedians and humor writers, Freudian scholars and late night television enthusiasts. Rationale of the Dirty Joke will amuse you, offend you, challenge you, and disgust you, all while demonstrating the intelligence and hilarity of the dirty joke.

Author : C. W. Marshall,George Kovacs
Publisher : A&C Black
Page : 223 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2012-07-19
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781780930152

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No Laughing Matter by C. W. Marshall,George Kovacs Pdf

A specially commissioned collection of papers covering widely read works, fragmentary plays and lost authors, giving a new perspective on the study of ancient comedy.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 405 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2019
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 8189059882

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No Laughing Matter by Anonim Pdf

Author : Margaret A. Mitchell
Publisher : Granville Island Pub
Page : 248 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2008
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 1894694635

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No Laughing Matter by Margaret A. Mitchell Pdf

The woman who first brought the issue of spousal abuse to the forefront in Canada presents her memoirs in this interesting, informative, entertaining and often humorous book. Margaret Mitchell is a social activist who pioneered community development in Vancouver, was a courageous feminist MP for Vancouver East, and an international adventuress. Her book is a testament to the struggles and achievements of women MPs, and chronicles her life's adventures and work. As an NDP Member of Parliament, Margaret Mitchell inspired generations of women with her public stand against "wife beating" with her vocal support for women's equality. She spent 14 years in the House of Commons advocating for affordable housing, multiculturalism, and the rights of poor people. Ms Mitchell worked tirelessly on issues that are alive today, including redress for the Chinese Head Tax, and childcare. The Margaret Mitchell Fund for Women, which Ms Mitchell established after her retirement, continues to support women's self-help projects and scholarships. Proceeds of book sales will also accrue to the fund. Prior to entering political life, Margaret Mitchell pioneered community development in Vancouver, helping people to organise and improve life in the city's poorer neighbourhoods. Many organisations she worked with to achieve greater citizen participation are still active today in one form or another and Ms Mitchell acknowledges the many people who participated with her in these endeavours. NO LAUGHING MATTER is an engaging story that will have broad public appeal and will be of particular interest to those whose lives Ms Mitchell has touched during her time as a community advocate, politician and friend. It will also interest those involved in political science, women's studies and local history.

Author : Larry Gelbart
Publisher : Thorndike Press
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 1998
Category : Large type books
ISBN : 0783802943

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Laughing Matters by Larry Gelbart Pdf