<p>I have been doing reading comprehension questions and I have to tackle this passage.</p>
<p>"There are several kinds of stories, but only one difficult kind--the humorous. I will talk mainly about that one. The humorous story is American, the comic story is English, the witty story is French. The humorous story depends for its effect upon the manner of the telling; the comic story and the witty story upon the matter.</p>
<p>The humorous story may be spun out to great length, and may wander around as much as it pleases, and arrive nowhere in particular; but the comic and witty stories must be brief and end with a point. The humorous story bubbles gently along, the others burst.</p>
<p>The humorous story is strictly a work of art--high and delicate art--and only an artist can tell it; but no art is necessary in telling the comic and the witty story; anybody can do it. The art of telling a humorous story--understand, I mean by word of mouth, not print--was created in America, and has remained at home.</p>
<p>The humorous story is told gravely; the teller does his best to conceal the fact that he even dimly suspects that there is anything funny about it; but the teller of the comic story tells you beforehand that it is one of the funniest things he has ever heard, then tells it with eager delight, and is the first person to laugh when he gets through. And sometimes, if he has had good success, he is so glad and happy that he will repeat the "nub" of it and glance around from face to face, collecting applause, and then repeat it again. It is a pathetic thing to see.</p>
<p>Very often, of course, the rambling and disjointed humorous story finishes with a nub, point, snapper, or whatever you like to call it. Then the listener must be alert, for in many cases the teller will divert attention from that nub by dropping it in a carefully casual and indifferent way, with the pretense that he does not know it is a nub.</p>
<p>But the teller of the comic story does not slur the nub; he shouts it at you--every time. And when he prints it, in England, France, Germany, and Italy, he italicizes it, puts some whooping exclamation-points after it, and sometimes explains it in a parenthesis. All of which is very depressing, and makes one want to renounce joking and lead a better life."</p>
<p>There are several phrases in this passage I cannot make sense of, try as I might. It would be nice if you could help me out.</p>
<p>1) 'There are several kinds of stories, but only one difficult kind--the humorous.' - Why is this only story called 'difficult'? 'Difficult' in what sense?</p>
<p>2) 'The humorous story is American, the comic story is English, the witty story is French.' - Is the author simply distinguishing stories (which are meant to amuse us) by the country of their origin? What about the other types of stories?</p>
<p>3) Does the second paragraph discuss the nature of the plot of these types of stories?</p>
<p>4) 'The humorous story is strictly a work of art--high and delicate art--and only an artist can tell it; but no art is necessary in telling the comic and the witty story; anybody can do it.' - What does 'high and delicate art' mean? Does the author mean that works of art are distinguished by their manner of telling, and not by their content?</p>
<p>5) 'The art of telling a humorous story--understand, I mean by word of mouth, not print--was created in America, and has remained at home.' - What's the point of this sentence in the broader context of the character of the humorous story as 'art'?</p>
<p>6) Does the fourth paragraph tell us that the humorous story depends on the reader's ability to decipher art, but that the comic and the witty stories guide readers on to the meaning?</p>
<p>7) Why would the fact that the teller of the comic story italicizes his nub, ... would want 'one want to renounce joking and lead a better life'?</p>