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Humour
- Author
- Terry Eagleton
- Narrator
- Roger Clark
- Publisher
- Tantor Media, Inc
- Publish Date
- 14 May 2019
- Run Time
- 5 hours 24 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
Written by an acknowledged master of comedy, this study reflects on the nature of humor 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 humor 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 humor, 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 humor and its social and political evolution over the centuries.
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Details
- Author
- Terry Eagleton
- Narrator
- Roger Clark
- Duration
- 5 hours 24 minutes
- Release Date
- 14 May 2019
- ISBN
- 9781541402348
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Tantor Media, Inc
- Genre
- Performing arts, Comedy and stand-up, Philosophy: aesthetics, Philosophy
Synopsis
A compelling guide to the fundamental place of humor 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 humor 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 humor 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 humor, 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 humor and its social and political evolution over the centuries.
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