Sweet madness : A study of humor / William F. Fry.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fry, William F., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wit and humor.

Practical jokes.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 178 pages)

Other Title:

Sweet madness

Place of Publication:

Palo Alto, Calif : Pacific Books, 1963.

Summary:

"This book is a distillation of thoughts and findings encountered in the process of working as Research Assistant in the Department of Anthropology at Stanford University. I was working in association with Gregory Bateson and the other members of our research staff in an exploration of the functions of the paradoxes of abstraction in implicit communication, humor, mental illness, psychotherapy, and culture. The, first part of the book, consisting of two chapters, serves mainly as a very general introduction to the subject of humor. The second part of the book is a group of four chapters which have little apparent interrelationship (except that they are all about humor in one way or another). Weakly related as they are, however, these chapters serve to introduce a variety of ideas important to the climax, and concluding part, of the book. This third part is divided into two closely connected chapters--one historical and the other expositive. These chapters are the real raison d'etre of the book and present the theory of the structure of humor that developed during my research studies mentioned above"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.