Laughing Matter: An Essay on the Comic | National Humanities Center

Work of the Fellows: Monographs

Laughing Matter: An Essay on the Comic

By Marcel Gutwirth (NHC Fellow, 1985–86)

Comedy; Humor; Social History

Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993

From the publisher’s description:

Why do we laugh? Do we really want to know why? We are torn between desire to understand the joyous human response of laughter and reluctance to expose the secret of our spontaneity to the rigors of intellectualizing, the labors of analysis. Marcel Gutwirth here offers a fresh approach to laughter and the full range of funny occasions— from the artistry of Moliere's Misanthrope to the unique nature of Beckett's comic wisdom.

Subjects
History / Art / Literature / Comedy / Humor / Social History /

Gutwirth, Marcel (NHC Fellow, 1985–86). Laughing Matter: An Essay on the Comic. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993.