A Very Serious Thing

"A Very Serious Thing" is a study of a part of American literature that has been neglected by scholars and under-represented in anthologies - American women's humorous writing. Nancy Walker proposes that the American humorous tradition be redefined to include women's humour as well as men's. Rather than a study of individual writers, the book is an exploration of relationships between cultural realities - including expectations of "true womanhood" and women's humorous response to those realities.