A Cheshire Smile:
Humor Texture and Personality in Shakespeare's Comedies
About the Authors
Paul H. Grawe
Paul's interest in theater began at Carleton College and reached out into comedy at Northwestern University, where he earned his MA (1966) and PhD (1971) in English. His dissertation, Sombre Comedy, Comedy in a New Mood, puts forth a definition of comedy that covers the range of Greek New Comedy to present light as well as dark comedy. In 1983 in Comedy in Space, Time, and the Imagination (Nelson-Hall) he further developed the definition of comedy into Comedy Theoretical, Comedy Lucrative, Comedy Popular, Comedy Sombre, and Comedy in Ultimate Realty.
As professor of English at Winona State University, he has taught Shakespeare's comedies, literary criticism, American film comedy, and a television comedy course, as well as numerous courses in American literature and a Jane Austen seminar.
Upon joining the International Society for Humor Studies (ISHS) in 1990, Paul expanded his interest in comedy to include humor, bringing quantitative humor preference analysis to the study of literary criticism. He has designed numerous test instruments and has authored over 25 academic articles and conference presentations on humor. He is content editor of the Humor Quotient Newsletter, and the co-author of Comedic Tenor, Comic Vehicle: Humor in American Film Comedy, and author of Comedy in a New Mood published at www.ITCHS.org.
His recent focus on humor in the nursing home setting has generated extensive databases on humor preferences among nursing home staff and residents.
He can be contacted at pgrawe@hbci.com.
Robin Jaeckle Grawe
Robin earned her undergraduate degree at Carleton College and her MA in English at Winona State University. A member of the International Society for Humor Studies since 1990, she is the chief designer of the Humor Quotient Test and the layout editor of the Humor Quotient Newsletter. She has authored over 20 articles, reports, and conference presentations on humor, with special emphasis on senior humor in American film, HQT humor analysis of comedic literary forms, and the use of humor in group negotiating. She has spoken to civic groups on negotiation styles for women and other humor-in-the-workplace topics. She has had extensive experience as a dissertation and thesis consultant. In her "other life," she has had major environmental interests as a governor-appointed member of the MN-WI Boundary Area Commission and its successor organization.
Robin is the co-author of Comedic Tenor, Comic Vehicle: Humor in American Film Comedy, and author of December Comedy: Studies in Senior Comedy and Other Essays, both published at www.ITCHS.org.
Recently her interest in senior humor of film comedy has been directed into research of the uses and preferences of humor in the nursing home setting and the use of humor for healthy aging.
She can be contacted at ragrawe@hbci.com.
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