Paul Lewis is Professor of English in

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, United States, specializing in

humor Humour ( Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids i ...

American literature American literature is literature written or produced in the United States of America and in the British colonies that preceded it. The American literary tradition is part of the broader tradition of English-language literature, but also ...

and

Gothic fiction Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror (primarily in the 20th century), is a literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name of the genre is derived from the Renaissance era use of the word "gothic", as a pejorative to mean me ...

. He has an A.B. from the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

, a M.A.:

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1877, it is the first university of Western Canada. Both by total student enrolment and campus area, the University of ...

, Ph.D.:

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...

. Lewis was the chair of the

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...

Foundation of Boston and played a key role in the project that installed a statue of the Antebellum writer on Bolyston Street in 2014 titled '' Poe Returning to Boston''. Also involving Poe, Lewis oversaw a team that installed an exhibit between December 2009 to March 2010 at the

Boston Public Library The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also Massachusetts' Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse''), meaning all adult re ...

called ''The Raven in the Frog Pond: Edgar Allan Poe and the City of Boston'', which explored Poe's relationship with contemporary Bostonian writers. He is also a

freelance writer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

, who invented the

neologism In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...

"frankenfood", critical of genetically modified food, in a letter he wrote to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' in response to the decision of the

US Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

to allow companies to market

genetically modified food Genetically modified foods (GM foods), also known as genetically engineered foods (GE foods), or bioengineered foods are foods produced from organisms that have had changes introduced into their DNA using various methods of genetic engineering. G ...

. The term "frankenfood" has become a battle cry of the European side in the US-EU agricultural trade war.

Humor research

His 2006 book ''"Cracking Up"'' about the new heyday of politically charged humor in the United States received significant coverage in the media, for example on ABC Radio, in ''

The Chronicle of Higher Education ''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' is an American newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty and student affairs professionals, including staff members and administrators. A subscription ...

'', and '' The Boston College Chronicle''.That's Funny – Or Is It? Asks Humor Scholar Lewis
/ref> Lewis has served on the editorial board of '' Humor: The International Journal of Humor Research''. Drawing on Rod A. Martin's view of humor as a multi-dimensional concept and on empirical work in social psychology and sociology, Lewis has developed interdisciplinary approaches to the study of humor in literature, popular culture and politics. His recent work has focused on the Danish cartoon controversy and the impact of ridicule, parody, and joking in the 2008 presidential race.

Bibliography

* ''Cracking Up: American Humor in a Time of Conflict'', The University of Chicago Press, 2006. * ''Comic Effects: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Humor in Literature'', State University of New York Press, 1989.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Humor researchers American academics of English literature City College of New York alumni University of Manitoba alumni University of New Hampshire alumni Boston College faculty {{US-English-academic-bio-stub