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Jan Lloyd Jones, "Taking Humour Slightly Seriously"
Can humour be usefully defined as distinct from other forms of comedy, such as satire, farce, and wit? Can it be seen as representing a progression from the more primitive comic forms? Where does humour stand in relation to tragedy? How is freedom connected to humour? Is true humour on the decline? In this paper I attempt to answer these and other such diverting questions by using varied examples and not too much "Logick-mongering". I define humour as an art form that is at once the paradigmatic opposite of satire and a development out of (and a refinement upon) farce. I explore--and indeed extol--the essential correlation of humour with freedom, love, and tolerance. And I suggest that humour is not incognisant of tragedy, but rather transcends it. Biography: Jan Lloyd Jones is writing a doctoral thesis at the Australian National University on the comic elements in Hardy's works. Her other research interests include the novels of Milan Kundera, theory of comedy and tragedy, and the figure of the hero in literature from Beowulf to James Bond. |
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