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Part of
Experiencing Fictional Worlds
Edited by Benedict Neurohr and Lizzie Stewart-Shaw
[Linguistic Approaches to Literature 32] 2019
► pp. 119–134

Chapter 7
Constructing inferiority through comic characterisation

Self-deprecating humour and cringe comedy in High Fidelity and Bridget Jones’s Diary

This chapter draws on cognitive stylistics and psychology to explore those characterisation techniques in humorous novels which can shape readers’ responses to comic protagonists. I focus on those instances in Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity (1995) and Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary (1996) in which the main characters make a comparison between their own physical appearance and that of someone else’s, presenting themselves as either superior or inferior to others. While comic protagonists can be created as generally equal to the reader and more attractive than other characters so as to inspire our identification and empathy, they can also occasionally be placed in a position of inferiority where the comparison between them and others is not as favourable. It is the construction of this inferiority which, I suggest, informs the self-deprecating humour and embarrassment-induced cringe comedy in Hornby’s and Fielding’s novels.

Keywords: humorous novel, cognitive stylistics, characterisation, self-deprecating humour, cringe comedy, empathy, identification, High Fidelity , Bridget Jones’s Diary
Article outline
  • 7.1Introduction
  • 7.2Characterisation in literature and comedy
  • 7.3Constructing superiority: Cueing identification with the comic protagonist
  • 7.4Constructing inferiority: Positioning the protagonist as a target of humour
    • 7.4.1Self-deprecating humour and character likeability
    • 7.4.2Embarrassment, empathy and cringe comedy
  • 7.5Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 21 February 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lal.32.07mar
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