FORMS OF HUMOUR IN LIZ TUCCILLO’S “HOW TO BE SINGLE”
FORMS OF HUMOUR IN LIZ TUCCILLO’ “HOW TO BE SINGLE”

Summary/Abstract: This study focuses on the manner in which humour is achieved in Liz Tuccillo’s novel How to Be Single. We start from introducing the background of the story, then, in the most complex section of the paper, we proceed to look at the means through which contextual humour is created at the level of the text. Here, we analyse some methods such as the juxtaposition of incongruent or contrasting meanings, the neglect of Grice’s Cooperative Principle, the baffling of the reader’s expectations, polysemy, stereotyping, feminist outlooks, plays-upon-words, witticism and even intertextuality or repetition as sources of humour. Then, we look at the particular category of humorous effect being drawn from analogies, metaphors and comparisons. Last but not least, we mention and explain a few examples of situational humor in the fourth section of the body of the research. The perspective on the material combines elements from cultural studies, linguistics, pragmatics, imagology and feminism.

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