The GW Philosophy Department welcomes Dr. Karen Coats from the University of Cambridge as the 2026 Caws Memorial Lecturer. Dr. Coats will be presenting her talk "A Kinder Irony: Functions of Humor in Youth Literature."

Lecture Abstract
Drawing together concepts from existentialism, psychoanalysis, and humor theory, this talk explores how children of various ages come to perceive a text as humorous. To understand the origins and need for humor, I suggest that we require a metamodernist understanding of irony that situates its importance beyond that of a rhetorical strategy or a semiotic resource, but as a basic condition of existence that demands a response. By looking at the fate of alazonic characters in picturebooks and sardonic humorists in YA, I examine how humor supports the ability to respond to the ironic tensions that oscillate between reality, pretense and aspirations in positive ways rather than resorting to denial, despair or cool detachment.

About the Speaker
Karen Coats is professor of education and director of the Centre for Research in Children’s Literature at the University of Cambridge. She holds a PhD in Human Sciences from George Washington University and taught at Illinois State University for over 20 years prior to her appointment at Cambridge. She is also a visiting associate professor in the MA and MFA programs in children's literature at Hollins University. She has authored three books, co-edited six volumes and published more than 50 peer-reviewed chapters and articles on the history, forms, genres and theoretical concerns of children’s and young adult literature.