Comic Laughter in The Blithedale Romance: Miles Coverdale and the Idea of the Gentleman Humorist

Coverdale, with his propensity to jest, seems a more suitable match. [...]he does so in a way that also casts doubt on the entire Blithedale enterprise by exposing everyone's lack of the benevolence needed to succeed not only as a reformist but also as an Addisonian humorist. The potential pairing of Coverdale and Zenobia should strike the reader as all the more plausible given the earnestness of Hollingsworth. [...]unlike Crayon, Coverdale is not just looking for amiable comrades; he also wishes for a sympathetic soul-mate, a romantic double. [...]that inconsistent comic intention manifests itself in the overstated rhetoric that at times casts doubt on his sincerity as it projects certain expressions as ill-natured jokes: In The Sketch Book, the narrating persona of Geoffrey Crayon as gentleman humorist constructs the implied reader as a gentleman humorist too: the reader apprehends the eccentricities of Crayon and humors them, may even be delighted with them, while also appreciating any satiric observations that Crayon may supply. [...]the doubling dynamic of good-natured comic laughter moves outward from the narrator in two directions: toward other characters in the storyworld of the book, toward the reader.