SOURCE: “What Is There to Laugh?,” in Grace Paley: Illuminating the Dark Lives, University of Texas Press: Austin, 1990, pp. 46-67.
In the following essay, Taylor discusses cultural stereotypes about women and humor, and examines the use of comic wit in Paley's fiction. Taylor contends that Paley's subversive humor—earthy, optimistic, and distinctly Jewish—serves to expose the absurdity of patriarchal society and to foster a sense of survivalism among marginalized women.
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