The pleasure of fools : essays in the ethics of laughter / Jure Gantar.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gantar, Jure, 1964-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Laughter in literature.

Laughter--Moral and ethical aspects.

Laughter.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (204 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Montreal ; Ithaca : McGill-Queen's University Press, c2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The crucial question is not whether or not there is offensive laughter but whether or not all laughter offends. Almost everyone has felt the bitter stab of malicious laughter and knows that laughter can be cruel, but it is more difficult to decide if there is also laughter that can never insult. Through a reading of Aristophanes, Rabelais, Molière, Fielding, and Rostand, Victorian nonsense poetry, and the philosophical texts of Plato, Dante, and More, Gantar explores the reasons for critics' prejudice against comedy, the specific position of laughter in various utopian societies, and self-deprecating laughter and the role of the comedian as its primary producer. His conclusions contradict basic postmodern thought and contribute to current debates on the epistemological nature of criticism.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

A Critical Prejudice

Alternatives to Laughter

Typologies of Laughter

Nonsense

Ridicule

Laughter in Utopia

Self-Deprecating Laughter

The Comedian

Laughter and Insult

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [171]-184) and index.

ISBN:

1-282-86350-9

9786612863509

0-7735-7285-6

OCLC:

244766200