【 在张国垚发表于2021-11-21 15:02:35大作中提到: 】

WOW！You guys must have been spent a lot of time on making this video. And I am so impressed that you applied  first person in the narration of  Max Shulman's life story. Interesting. That is a really good way to draw listeners' attention. I learned a lot. My question is that what is the difference among O' Henry, Mark Twain and Max Shulman in the aspect of their  attiudes towards satire and jokes?

Hello, Yao. I'm sorry not to answer you question as soon as possible. Your question is so provocative that I need more time to consider and organize my words. Here is my answer. 

First, Mark Twain's humor is more about comedy. Mark Twain has been called a "comic writer" and a "humorist".

In his works, Mark Twain used light-hearted comedy to criticize and satirize the capitalist society, especially his early works recorded the wild optimism and humor of the frontier. The language is extremely humorous and the tone of the work is also very light-hearted. Take his early novel "million pounds" as an example. Its hero Henry Adams was a poor boy in the United States. However, two billionaire brothers made a bet and they gave Henry a check that cannot exchange to test their assumptions. Owing to the huge-sum check , Henry did not starve to death or get arrested; Instead, he became famous, rich, and found love. At this time, the young Mark Twain had some hope in capitalism, but by the end of his writing, he had fully realized the hideous essence of capitalist society and the decay of the system. Hence, he began to lose hope in so-called democracy. In his later works, the tragic plots were described in a comic way, and the pain and anger were resolved with humor and satire. Mark Twain was good at mixing honey with life's bitterness, replacing disgust with humor, replacing abuse with laughter, and making people think and enlighten in laughter.

Second, O. Henry's humor tends to be gray humor. As a famous master of critical realism in The United States, O. Henry paid attention to the people at the bottom of society. 

In his nearly 300 short stories, most of them reflect the sad life of the people at the bottom of society. We can feel his deep sympathy and care for the people at the bottom of society in his works. In his writing, the poor have a pure and kind heart, a kind and beautiful character, sincere and deep love, but they suffer a miserable life, weak, helpless, hungry, no shelter, struggling, often mercilessly swallowed by the society. This kind of unfair phenomenon and prosperous social scene is particularly harsh, which implies the author's indignation.

O. Henry's novels are good at depicting the hard life of little people in the money society, and the protagonist's life is often gloomy. He covers the tears with humor, but the reader can still feel the weight and depression. "The gift of the Magi" is one of his representatives. The clever design of the overall structure of the novel reflects their poor but loving life with humor. Although the ending of the novel is also satisfactory, the helplessness and bitterness behind it make readers feel heavy. "Cut Throat" is about sincere and pure friendship in two men chasing a girl in the process of respectable, ridiculous and lovely performance, with a bit of fun to sing the praises of the kindness of the little people. "The Never-ending Story" describes a poor woman who earns only five dollars a week, though temporarily wavering, but finally refused the seduction of the rich philandering man. Her poor life and complicated inner world are truly and movingly shown, which enhance readers' respect for her.

Frankly speaking, Max Shulman's satire and jokes are not as profound as the two mentioned above. Unlike Mark Twain and O' Henry, Max was born in a much more fast-pace and modern American society. At his time, the capitalism had had the unshakable dominance in the USA. He accepted capitalistic education, so it's less likely that he would radically criticize capitalism. In his novels, he satired American blind optimism or made jokes about materialism, all of which are superficial but suitable to adapt to TV series.

To sum up, Mark Twain is famous for his humor which usually makes his readers laugh. In Mark Twain's novels, laughter makes people not only relax but also think. Inspiring readers to think is Mark's terminal purpose. When reading Mark's works, we can find his humor as a whole tends to be a kind of bright humor. 

However, in O. Henry's novels, we can feel his sympathy and care for the people at the bottom. As a result, the humor of his novels makes people feel light bitterness and dullness after laughter.

Compared with the two distinguished authors, Max Shulman is more moderate when criticizing the negative aspects. His humor is light-hearted and informal, which is suitable for television series or films.

References:

[1]谢少华,王琛莹.马克·吐温和欧·亨利短篇小说的幽默风格比较[J].三峡大学学报(人文社会科学版),2014,36(02):113-116.

[2]黎清群,曹志希.互文·并置·反讽——《爱情是谬误》的复调叙事艺术[J].外语教学,2007(03):80-82.DOI:10.16362/j.cnki.cn61-1023/h.2007.03.007.

[3]张慧.《爱情是谬误》的语域偏离与反讽呈现[J].洛阳理工学院学报(社会科学版),2015,30(06):27-30.

Wish my answer could help you.