Examines forms, genres and social functions of laughter in Slavic cultures (Russian, Polish, Czech, Serbian, and others). Analysis of the carnivalesque, grotesque, and irony in the works of Gogol, Chapek, Hashek, Lem, Kundera, Gombrowicz, Kharms, Zoshchenko, Ilf and Petrov, Kusturica, Kieslewsky, and other authors; also provides an introduction to literature and film of Eastern Europe. Taught in English.
