Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
Audiobook5 hours
Humour
Written by Terry Eagleton
Narrated by Roger Clark
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
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.
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.
Author
Terry Eagleton
Terry Eagleton is a literary critic, writer and chair in English literature in Lancaster University's department of English and creative writing. He is the author of Shakespeare and Society amongst many other works.
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Reviews for Humour
Rating: 3.947368415789474 out of 5 stars
4/5
19 ratings1 review
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Mostly just conjecture and unorganized quotes from philosophers, just go read those authors instead