Some types of instructions for creativity tasks (such as explicitly telling people to be creative) can boost performance. Showing people examples or telling them ways of approaching the problem before they begin a creativity task can help, but results are mixed about whether it is better to emphasize positive examples/approaches that can be…

A corpus of 313 freshman college essays was analyzed in order to better understand the forms and functions of humor in academic writing. Human ratings of humor and wordplay were statistically aggregated using Factor Analysis to provide an overall "Humor" component score for each essay in the corpus. In addition, the essays were also…

The essay is the most intimate of reading experiences, in which the reader is invited to eavesdrop as the writer works through a thought or excavates a memory. The writer can be explicit, in the first person, or just implicit, as the person behind the words, but he or she is absolutely, powerfully present. It's as if, for those few thousand words,…

Three papers facetiously dealing with college administration. These papers are part of a book by the above named author, a professor at New York University. (MF)

The article focuses on the relationship between the primary process and the creative process, especially as it relates to the fields of wit and poetry. Examples of identification based on similarity in schizophrenics are presented. (CL)

Excerpted from Never Tease a Dinosaur'' (1961), this tongue-in-cheek account focuses on the practical workings of democracy in a classroom, democracy as practiced by children. (JB)

The purpose of the course on satire in the Quinmester Program is to make the student more aware of satire in literature and the other media, in order to add to his enjoyment of literature and add to his perception of human nature. The course includes the study of art, cartoons, movies, television, and editorials in addition to literature.…

Facetious, yet honest, look at expressing oneself when angry or upset. Contains samples of letters one wishes one could write, along with the types of letters one actually should write. The central point: Write that scathing message to vent your frustrations, but don't deliver it. (WFA)

One of a series of works aimed at presenting contemporary critical opinion on major authors, this collection includes essays by Marie Borroff, Wallace Stevens, Joseph N. Riddle, Hi Simons, Sister M. Bernetta Quinn, C. Roland Wagner, Harold Bloom, Ralph J. Mills, Jr., Roy Harvey Pearce, Louis L. Martz, Morton Dauwen Zabel, and Northrop Frye--all…

Representing various scholarly interests and ideologies, 7 of the 12 essays discuss ethnographers frequent misrepresentation of Chicano culture because they are unaware of the "performance" element of Chicano behavior; "agringado joking", a tactic used by Texas Chicanos to mark ethnic boundaries and to protect their cultural…

This book seeks to raise some of the critical theoretical issues involved in the study of American negro folklore in all its major forms. Along with the presentation of texts, the concern here is for the meaning and significance of the folklore and its interpretations as expressed by a variety of authors. The selections are divided into eight…

One of a series of works aimed at presenting contemporary critical opinion on major American authors, this volume contains critical studies of Mark Twain. Designed for use by both literary critics and secondary and college teachers of English, this work would also be of value to undergraduate and graduate students of literature. Topics covered…