Self-Mockery, Rage, and Writing: On Gary Shteyngart’s “Little Failure”
When it comes to Jewish humor, self-mockery is not new. Sanford Pinsker argues that Ibn Ezra, the 12th century Rabbi and Torah commentator, used self-mockery to epitomize the comedic state of exile (in general) and the schlemiel (in particular). Self-mockery is found in the classic joke about the schlemiel, the schlimazel, and the nudnik. One […]