Defining Comedy
Reflections on the Usual Suspects
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Published:24th Sep '26
£24.99
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Treats the attempts at general theories of comedy by philosophers, psychologists and authors and why they have failed. From the time of Plato and Aristotle, philosophers and psychologists, along with experts from the social sciences and linguistics, have made vain attempts to formulate a general theory of comedy. Passing in review all the usual suspects, including Hobbes, Kant and Bergson, as well as several recent theorists of comedy from America, and while not of course forgetting Freud as well as authors such as Stendhal and Baudelaire, David Ellis suggests that, although comedy is undoubtedly an important topic, with profound implications for both social and private life, there have been better ways to pass one's time than in a fruitless search for an overarching explanation of what it is and how it works. Written in a jargon-free, entertaining style, with illustrations from both famous comic writers and present-day performers in Britain and America, this is a book that can be read with pleasure by all with an interest in comedy, whether they are specialists in the matter or not.
'With flawless erudition and delightful wit and irony, David Ellis conducts his reader through the jungle of definitions of comedy by philosophers, psychologists, neuroscientists and writers of literature. He finds all such definitional endeavours flawed and futile. However, accompanying him on his journey we learn everything we could wish to know about what is funny, ridiculous, comic, ironic, ludicrous, witty, or satirical and their roles in private life, personal relationships, and their social, religious and political contexts. This book is a joy to read and very funny.' - Peter Hacker, Emeritus Fellow of St John's College, Oxford 'This book casts a sceptical eye over grand theories of comedy, from a perspective that is amused, amusing and deeply human. It presents a convincing and right-headed analysis that argues for rejecting reductive definitions and instead focusing on the specificity and nuance in particular comics texts. It's a cracking read.' - Oliver Double, Reader in Comic and Popular Performance at the University of Kent 'The virtue of this book is that it is light as well as weighty, as at home with music hall comedians as with Molière, and while relishing a good joke does not shy from philosophical seriousness. It is a fraught pleasure from beginning to end.' - Howard Jacobson, author of Seriously Funny: from the Ridiculous to the Sublime
ISBN: 9780718898601
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
150 pages