"Disengaging unstated premises to show how the theoretical discourse about comedy often enacts the intellectual disputes of its time, The idea of comedy tracks the history of comic theories along two principal axes. The first is historical, showing how the Hellenistic ethical conception devolves into social superiority and then into populist assertions, enidng on the question of whether contemporary comic theory is still populist today." "The second axis is conceptual, sorting theories by types of agreement and dispute. Whether comedy improves the citizens or threatens political instability, whether it insults or enacts moral standards, whether it serves God and the integrated superego or the devil and the anarchic id, are some of the questions addressed by theroists such as Cicero, Maggi, Dryden, Kant, Schopenhauer, Baudelaire, Nietzsche, Freud, Lacan, and Genette." -book jacket.
“Perceived Personality Associations”; on the importance of shared humor in first encounters, see Barbara Fraley and Arthur Aron, “The Effect of a Shared Humorous Experience on Closeness in Initial Encounters,” Personal Relationships 11, ...
Impressions of India by Mark Mattison, spouse of an American diplomat during his stay (1999-2000) in India.
Chronicles the history of "Boomer Humor," from its beginnings with Lenny Bruce and Jules Feiffer, through the sixties and the work of Richard Pryor and Woody Allen, to its contemporary...
Humour permeates our lives. People tell jokes, make puns, and engage in witty banter. There is written humour in headlines and captions, in ads, on signs, t-shirts, and bumper stickers,...
Educators and librarians are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of humor to children, especially the way it stimulates their interest in reading and enhances the quality of the reading...
This book examines satirical portrayals of academia as exhibited in works of academic fiction, revealing the way in which this genre represents University life to the broader reading public and...
Perennial favorites such as The Doubtful Guest, The Insect God, and The Fatal Lozenge, which have been collected in the award-winning Amphigorey anthologies; set and costume designs for Dracula; illustrations...
The Politics of Gulliver's Travels
Laughing Matter: Towards a Personal Philosophy of Wit and Humor
The author argues in this book that the proscribing of certain types of humour may not be beneficial. Just as humour has its origins in the cursing of malign spirits,...