Only a Joke Can Save Us
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Home > Religion, Philosophy & Sprituality > Philosophy > Only a Joke Can Save Us: A Theory of Comedy(Diaeresis)
Only a Joke Can Save Us: A Theory of Comedy(Diaeresis)

Only a Joke Can Save Us: A Theory of Comedy(Diaeresis)


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About the Book

Only a Joke Can Save Us presents an innovative and comprehensive theory of comedy. Using a wealth of examples from high and popular culture and with careful attention to the treatment of humor in philosophy, Todd McGowan locates the universal source of comedy in the interplay of the opposing concepts lack and excess. After reviewing the treatment of comedy in the work of philosophers as varied as Aristotle, G. W. F. Hegel, Sigmund Freud, Henri Bergson, and Alenka Zupancic, McGowan, working in a psychoanalytic framework, demonstrates that comedy results from the deployment of lack and excess, whether in contrast, juxtaposition, or interplay. Illustrating the power and flexibility of this framework with analyses of films ranging from Buster Keaton and Marx Brothers classics to Dr. Strangelove and Groundhog Day, McGowan shows how humor can reveal gaps in being and gaps in social order. Scholarly yet lively and readable, Only a Joke Can Save Us is a groundbreaking examination of the enigmatic yet endlessly fascinating experience of humor and comedy.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction: The Similar and the Dissimilar Lack and Excess Theory and Opposition Tragedy and Pathos Philosophy and the Finite Signification and Desire Distance and Proximity Outside and Inside Politics and Comedy Conclusion: Speculation and Levity

About the Author :
Todd McGowan is an associate professor of film and television studies at the University of Vermont.

Review :
Only a Joke Can Save Us offers a master class in psychoanalysis masquerading as a master class in comedy. McGowan’s theory yields powerful, persuasive, original insights into examples as varied as classic cinema, Jewish jokes, Kierkegaard, and Shakespeare. This master class will be thoroughly enjoyed by philosophers, cultural critics, affect theorists, and psychoanalytic thinkers alike."" - Anna Kornbluh, author of Realizing Capital: Financial and Psychic Economies in Victorian Realist Form


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Product Details
  • ISBN-13: 9780810135802
  • Publisher: Northwestern University Press
  • Publisher Imprint: Northwestern University Press
  • Height: 226 mm
  • No of Pages: 288
  • Series Title: Diaeresis
  • Sub Title: A Theory of Comedy
  • Width: 152 mm
  • ISBN-10: 0810135809
  • Publisher Date: 30 Sep 2017
  • Binding: Paperback
  • Language: English
  • Returnable: Y
  • Spine Width: 15 mm
  • Weight: 300 gr


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    BoxerLover2 - 5 Days ago
    A Thrilling But Totally Believable Murder Mystery

    Read this in one evening. I had planned to do other things with my day, but it was impossible to put down. Every time I tried, I was drawn back to it in less than 5 minutes. I sobbed my eyes out the entire last 100 pages. Highly recommend!

    BoxerLover2 - 5 Days ago
    A Thrilling But Totally Believable Murder Mystery

    Read this in one evening. I had planned to do other things with my day, but it was impossible to put down. Every time I tried, I was drawn back to it in less than 5 minutes. I sobbed my eyes out the entire last 100 pages. Highly recommend!


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