【 在孙荣发表于2021-11-22 18:41:43大作中提到: 】

Excellent presentation! The contents are substantial. The design is very interesting and original. I like it!  You have mentioned that the most impressive highlight of Max's writing style is humor. So, can you compare his style of humor with the black humor/ dark humor?  Do they have any differences or similarities? Looking forward to your answers.

Hello, Rong. Thanks for your interesting question! You do inspire me a lot! Here is my answer.

Black humor, also called black comedy, writing that juxtaposesmorbid or ghastly elements with comical ones that underscore the senselessness or futility of life. Black humour often uses farce and low comedy to make clear that individuals are helpless victims of fate and character. One typical example of Black Humor is “Catch-22”. 

Catch-22, written by American writer Joseph Heller, takes World War II as the background of the story and fully demonstrates the essence of American black humor literary style in art form and theme. 

In the novel, there is a ridiculous rogue type of catch, "Catch-22". According to catch-22, madmen can be exempted from flying, but they have to prove that they are mad. However, when they can prove themselves crazy, they can't be crazy. This kind of overbearing and deceptive military rules throughout the story.( With the popularity of the novel, "Catch-22" has become a slang term, referring to an inescapable situation, or an unreasonable, absurd synonym for deception. ) In order to refuse the army to give him unreasonable increase in flight, the hero Joseph had to feign illness to escape. To some extent, his was also to escape the cruelty of war and the world controlled by catch-22. But the hospital kicked him out, and he had to return to catch-22 oppression. His hope for a better life made him want to flee to Sweden, escaping the catch-22. Although the main characters believe that catch-22 is a lie, they couldn’t rebel against their bosses who were trying to trick them into the trap. No matter how hard Joseph tried, he couldn't escape the curse of catch-22. Brave and wise as he was on the battlefield, when facing his superior officer, Joseph became a coward and repeatedly  failed to escape from catch-22. 

The author shows an anarchic and irrational world with funny and satirical writing techniques, and the black humor in the novel fully demonstrates the theme of the story. The author uses the paradox of "catch-22" to express his despair and helplessness towards the American society at that time.

Black humor is bitter because it tends to uncover the authors’ pessimism and despair. Apparently, Max Shulman’s humor is not aimed at expressing his hopelessness. Max was good at making jokes around daily life, which makes his readers laugh and feel closer to Max. 

From my perspective, Max Shulman’s humor is not black, but colorful.

References:

[1]岳二趁,李菲.《第二十二条军规》中的黑色幽默研究[J].文学教育(上),2021(09):68-69.

[2]刘伟.从《第二十二条军规》解读海勒的黑色幽默小说创作[J].文学教育(上),2019(07):48-49.DOI:10.16692/j.cnki.wxjys.2019.07.020.

[3]杜江洪.《第二十二条军规》黑色幽默的叙事技巧[J].湖南科技学院学报,2019,40(07):33-34.DOI:10.16336/j.cnki.cn43-1459/z.2019.07.010.

[4]车欣.黑色幽默在《第二十二条军规》中的表现[J].青年文学家,2017(26):117.

Hope that my answer could be of help.