1. ENGL 2020 Themes in Literature and Culture: The Grotesque
Black Humor
Humor discovered in pain, despair, horror, or a generally pessimistic View of the world. Vladimir Nabokov's Laughter in the Dark and Nathanael West's Miss Lonelyhearts are examples from the 1930s, but the term is most frequently applied to post-World War II writers, especially in the United States, who present a sense of alienation heightened by laughter. Joseph Heller, Kurt Vonnegut, and Thomas Pynchon are often cited.—Harper Handbook to Literature
Sometimes known as Gallows Humor.
ENGL 2020 Themes in Literature and Culture: The Grotesque

2. ENGL 2020 Themes in Literature and Culture: The Grotesque
Sick-Joke Cycle
Plague Jokes
Challenger Jokes
How do we know Christa McAuliffe [the first teacher in space, killed on board the Challenger] wasn’t a good teacher?
ENGL 2020 Themes in Literature and Culture: The Grotesque

3. ENGL 2020 Themes in Literature and Culture: The Grotesque
Sick-Joke Cycle
Plague Jokes
Challenger Jokes
How do we know Christa McAuliffe [the first teacher in space, killed on board the Challenger] wasn’t a good teacher?
Because a good teacher doesn’t blow up in front of her class.
ENGL 2020 Themes in Literature and Culture: The Grotesque

4. Black Humor on the Grotesque Blog
Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Black Humor on the Grotesque Blog
Terry Southern, Black Humor Writer (Candy, The Magic Christian) [left]; Stanley Kubrick [right)]
ENGL 2020 Themes in Literature and Culture: The Grotesque
Black Humor