Only When I Laugh - Softcover

Elouise Bell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1560850132 ISBN 13: 9781560850137

Publisher: Signature Books, 1990

Synopsis

If people can "power lunch," how about making room in the work day for a "power-nap"? If women receive flowers in church on Mother's Day, should men receive something along the lines of a garden tool on Father's Day? In the tradition of Garrison Keillor, Elouise Bell tackles timely questions in a way that both celebrates and critiques her culture. Delighting readers of network magazine and the Salt Lake Tribune for years, she has compiled for the benefit of readers everywhere twenty-five of her most memorable articles including "Zzzzzuchini"; "Christmyths"; "What Makes Botticelli Blush?" and her most popular essay, "The Meeting," in which gender roles are reversed in an LDS worship service. As charming and light-hearted as these are, there is an implied caveat: anyone who cannot visualize bishops in high heels, house husbands, or a Mormon Democratic caucus should seek their razor-sharp social commentary elsewhere.

About this title

About the Author:

Elouise Bell is a retired professor of English and associate dean of General and Honors Education at Brigham Young University. She is the author of Only When I Laugh, editor of Will I Ever Forget This Day? Excerpts from the Diaries of Carol Lynn Pearson, and a columnist for network magazine for which she received an award for excellence from the Society of Professional Journalists and for The Salt Lake Tribune. She is a contributor to Harvest: Contemporary Mormon Poems and The Wilderness of Faith: Essays on Contemporary Mormon Thought. She lives in Orem, Utah.

Review:

Elouise Bell, familiar to readers of network magazine, explores in this collection of essays an area that has endeared her to readers past: the human dilemma. With the tip-off in her title, she has the unique ability to examine often painful knowledge with the wit and wisdom of a survivor. One imagines the joys enacted in her classrooms as well, for Elouise Bell is professor of English and associate dean of general and honors education at Brigham Young University. This text extends that classroom to the general reader and ranks Elouise Bell with the best of American humor essayists. Like E. B. White, Elouise Bell transforms the seemingly typical or mundane and in so doing celebrates the essential transformation of self which is a daily, but often unappreciated, phenomenon. We enjoy a host of re-invention of the average, from patriotism to "Matriotism" ("The matriot is one who loves and loyally or zealously supports her motherland"); zucchini to "zzzzucchini" (in its unfailing productivity, zucchini may even be laminated into playing cards, napkin rings, earrings . . .); the concept of the mutt to "peerless pets" (she offers reasons for our love affair sometimes to the exclusion of children); or Christmas to "Chrismyths" (the deconstruction of the "myth of Christmas past," for example). In all, she addresses in a fashion akin to but not as windy as Erma Bombeck psychological trends ("power-napping"), the meaning of holidays, the culture of the family, the consistency of time passing (I grow old, I grow old), and other common experiences which she uniquely views. My own personal favorite is "Woman Warblers." Her explanation of why women whistle sheds new light on the musical medleys of my sixth-grade teacher. The point is, if it hurts, "it" (the many experiences and perceptions Elouise Bell analyzes) deepens our own insight, understanding, and appreciation. As anyone who has hit his or her funny bone knows, comedy is connected to tragedy. No wonder Elouise Bell has been named for "excellence in journalism" by the Society of Professional Journalists. She not only warmly reminds us that "pains" may be funny, but she writes so well that we feel we've had a comic, yet engaging, conversation with the author. --Western American Literature, Shelley Armitage

Elouise Bell is a Mormon feminist, and her book of essays deals with feminism, Mormon-style. If that statement strikes you as slightly oxymoronic, the book will probably drive you nuts. If it doesn't, the book will reassure you that non-politically-correct feminism is alive and well. The essays in Only When I Laugh are short, humorous and occasionally sentimental. Most originally appeared in network, a magazine published for the feminist community in and around Salt Lake City, Utah. As such, they reflect the concerns of women attempting to coordinate membership in a conservative community, if not necessarily a conservative church, with the belief that all women deserve the right to make their own decisions about their own lives. One essay, "The Mug-wump," deals with this particular contradiction. According to Bell, a "mug-wump" is a person who sits "with 'mug' on one side of the fence and 'wump' on the other" (4). Rather than actually sitting on fences, though, Bell asserts that mug-wumps spend most of their time leaping over fences, escaping pursuit by those activists on both sides who insist that only people who swear total allegiance to one side or the other can be trusted. She suggests that mug-wumps are not traitors, but rather communicators. They can help one side to understand the needs and ideals of the other side, thus sowing the seeds of coalition between diverse groups of women who are working toward similar goals. Most of Bell's essays, however, reflect on less political themes. She talks about families and friends, pets and power-napping, Christmas and clothing without pockets. The essays are about feminism in everyday life in Utah. If they are not on the cutting edge of feminist theory, they are a gentle reminder that in spite of our different lifestyles and beliefs, all of us who claim feminism for ourselves do share at least a few common experiences and goals. The essays in Only When I Laugh are not of consistent quality, and because of their original place of publication, most assume a certain amount of familiarity with Mormon culture and the Intermountain West. However, for light reading, a glimpse into a different feminist perspective, or maybe to introduce feminism to a skeptical audience, Only When I Laugh is a useful book. --Feminisms, Valerie Sanders

About this edition

• Publisher: Signature Books
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 1560850132
• ISBN 13: 9781560850137
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 136