Humour - Hardcover

Eagleton, Terry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300243146 ISBN 13: 9780300243147

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2019

Synopsis

A compelling guide to the fundamental place of humour and comedy within Western culture—by one of its greatest exponents

Written by an acknowledged master of comedy, this study reflects on the nature of humour and the functions it serves. Why do we laugh? What are we to make of the sheer variety of laughter, from braying and cackling to sniggering and chortling? Is humour subversive, or can it defuse dissent? Can we define wit?
 
Packed with illuminating ideas and a good many excellent jokes, the book critically examines various well-known theories of humour, including the idea that it springs from incongruity and the view that it reflects a mildly sadistic form of superiority to others. Drawing on a wide range of literary and philosophical sources, Terry Eagleton moves from Aristotle and Aquinas to Hobbes, Freud, and Bakhtin, looking in particular at the psychoanalytical mechanisms underlying humour and its social and political evolution over the centuries.

About this title

Book Description:

Why do we laugh? Written by an acknowledged master of comedy, this study reflects on the nature of humour and the functions it serves. Packed with illuminating ideas and a good many excellent jokes, Terry Eagleton critically examines various well-known theories of humour and its social and political evolution over the centuries.

About the Author:

Terry Eagleton is distinguished visiting professor of English literature, University of Lancaster, and the author of more than fifty books in the fields of literary theory, postmodernism, politics, ideology, and religion. Recent publications include Why Marx Was Right and Culture. He lives in Northern Ireland.

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 0300243146
• ISBN 13: 9780300243147
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224