A Cultural History of Humour From Antiquity to the Present Day [Paperback]

Humour is without doubt a vital element of the human condition but it has rarely been the subject of serious historical research. Yet a closer look at jokes and other comic phenomena shows us that the nature of humour changes from one period to another, and that these changes can provide us with important insights into the social and cultural developments of the past.


This important and highly original book sets out to explore the terra incognita of humour through the ages - from jokes and stage humour in Greece and Rome to the jestbooks of early modern Europe, from practical jokes in Renaissance Italy to comic painting during the Dutch Golden Age, from Bakhtin's conception of laughter to the joking relationships of anthropologists.


These innovative accounts move humour into the centre of social and cultural history and throw an unexpected light on life and manners through the ages.List of illustrations.

Notes on contributors.

Preface.

Introduction: Humour and History: Jan Bremmer and Herman Roodenburg.

1. Jokes, Jokers and Jokebooks in Ancient Greek Culture: Jan Bremmer.

2. Cicero, Plautus and Roman Laughter: Fritz Graf.

3. Laughter in the Middle Ages: Jacques Le Goff.

4. Bakhtin and his Theory of Carnival: Aaron Gurevich.

5. Frontiers of the Comic in Early Modern Italy, c1350-1750: Peter Burke.

6. The Comic and the Counter Reformation in the Spanish Netherlands: Johan Verberckmoes.

7. Prose Jest-Books Mainly in the Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries in England: Derek Brewer.

8. To Converse Agreeably: Civility and the Telling of Jokes in Seventeenth-Century Holland: Herman Roodenburg.

9. How was Jan Steen Funny? Strategies and Functions of Comic Painting in the Seventeenth CelC´