Black Humour in Howard Jacobson’s Shylock is My Name

K. Nirmala, Dr. T. Vasanthakumari

Abstract


Howard Jacobson is a British Jewish writer, journalist and former professor of English Literature who has authored sixteen novels and six non-fiction with different social topics. A study of Jacobson's plays with black humour shows his remarkable versatility. His black humour combines the study of the unchangeable human nature and the contemporary situation with its unique features. In Jacobson’s hand, black humour becomes the most intellectual instrument of social criticism, as it is searching and replete with entertainment. Like all comic visions of life, black humour concerns itself with social realities. Jacobson’s on Jewish has a universal significance. He is not thoroughly pessimistic and analyses the overstrained relationship but displays black humour to give an excellent and shrewd commentary on Jewish life.


Keywords


British Jewish literature, Howard Jacobson, black humour, comic vision of life, Jewish life.

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