Hornby and Smith: Offhand Humor

Has anyone read Nick Hornby? He’s the author of High Fidelity, About a Boy, Fever Pitch – the list goes on. I was skimming through random chapters of Fever Pitch last night when I came across several lines that reminded me of Larry Smith’s piece, “A Life to Live, This Side of the Bars,” in the New York Times. Their humor and styles are remarkably similar, at least in these two instances. Here’s a blurb off the back cover of Hornby’s High Fidelity:

Hornby’s seamless prose and offhand humor make for one hilarious set piece after another, as suffering, self-centered Rob ruminates on women, sex, and Abbey Road. But then he’s forced to consider loneliness, fitting-in, death, and failure – and that is what lingers.” – Spin

It’s the way Hornby talks about stereotypically “effeminate” issues that makes his novels intriguing – at least for me. Most males can write about “loneliness, fitting-in, death,” but not usually in the context of romance; boys and men are taught to ignore certain emotions – that it’s not “manly” to express their feelings to their fullest extent. Men who do are deemed sensitive, a term which amongst other males has slightly negative connotations.

Therefore, in order to properly express himself and his “effeminate” observations, Hornby falls back on “offhand humor.” Larry Smith writes similarly. With his wife behind bars, his gender role is left ambiguously defined. In order to express himself while still retaining some sense of societal masculinity, Smith’s piece is littered with instances of “offhand humor.” For example: “Would there be conjugal visits? No. Was I allowed to see other women? No. Was she allowed to see other women? I told her to do whatever she needed” (Smith).

I hope I’m not wrong in this assumption; that Smith and Hornby aren’t being silly for the sake of being a-holes. As accomplished writer, I assume their censored femininity and “offhand humor” serve a greater purpose.