Challenge 190

Pass the Popcorn

Spring must be on the way: four of the stories in this issue can be classified as comedies:
- Clyde Andrews, “Sabrina’s Wish”
- Tala Bar, “What’s Up, Perseus?”
- Steve Douglas, “Hero Cop Saves Cat”
- Charles Richard Laing, “The New Shampoo”
According to Henri Bergson, the basic principle of comedy is an action, state or perception that violates a commonly understood norm; to which we add that it does no harm, lest the comedy become tragedy.

The Challenge is: Explain the joke. How does each of the comic stories in this issue create comic effects by transgressing a commonly accepted norm and overturning commonly held expectations?
And, of course, the standing Challenge: what stories of Edgar Allan Poe are alluded to in parts 16-18 of Jack Alcott’s Grim Legion?