Yacowar M. Loser Take All: the Comic Art of Woody Allen / Maurice Yacowar. — Second printing. — New York : Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1980. — 243 p.
Анотація: HUMOR IS a serious business, as this book wittily demonstrates. Maurice Yacowar undertakes a full-scale investigation into the achievement of America s leading comic laureate — what makes W oody Allen so funny to so many people? Here s a look at the how and why in Alien’s club monologues, and his plays, prose writings, and all his films up to Manhattan. This is a celebration and an exploration of Woody Allen’s artistry. Was he just playing Hamlet with his film Interiors, as some critics said? Or did they misread the “loser” persona so skillfully projected by Allen? Yacowar here zeroes in on a neglected clue in Annie Hall to reveal the grimace behind the comic masterpieces. The author also shows how the genres and techniques of this successful funny man are linked to his sense of mortality. “Life is a concentration camp,” Woody Allen has said, in which “you can only rage impotently against your persecutors.” Or you can laugh — which is what Woody Allen, and this book, have chosen to make the rest of us do. Woody Allen, the “loser” who wins the audience, is fun to listen to and to watch. And this book is informative and funny as it takes us through the scaffolding of his successful routines and plots. Loser Take All is also a groundbreaking book on the literature of comedy and on popular culture as well as film. It includes a discography, filmography, and bibliography as well as photographs. If you arc a Woody Allen fan, you won’t want to miss it.