To consider comedy in its many incarnations is to raise diverse but
related questions: what, for instance, is humour, and how may it be
used (or abused)? When do we laugh, and why? What is it that
writers and speakers enjoy - and risk - when they tell a joke,
indulge in bathos, talk nonsense, or encourage irony? This Very
Short Introduction explores comedy both as a literary genre, and as
a range of non-literary phenomena, experiences and events. Matthew
Bevis studies the classics of comic drama, prose fiction and
poetry, alongside forms of pantomime, comic opera, silent cinema,
popular music, Broadway shows, music-hall, stand-up and circus
acts, rom-coms, sketch shows, sit-coms, caricatures, and cartoons.
Taking in scenes from Aristophanes to The Office, from the Roman
Saturnalia to Groundhog Day, Bevis also considers comic theory from
Aristotle to Freud and beyond, tracing how comic achievements have
resisted as well as confirmed theory across the ages. This book
takes comedy seriously without taking it solemnly, and offers an
engaging study of the comic spirit which lies at the heart of our
shared social and cultural life. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short
Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds
of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books
are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our
expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and
enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly
readable.
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