A Cultural History of Humour

Jan Mremmer, University of Groningen

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.

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 Century: Mariet Westermann. 10. Parliamentary Hilarity Inside the French Constitutional Assembly (1789--91): Antoine de Baecque. 11. Humour and the Public Sphere in Nineteenth--Century Germany: Mary Lee Townsend. 12. Humour, Laughter and the Field: Reflections from Anthropology: Henk Driessen. 13. Humour and History: A Research Bibliography: Johan Verberckmoes. Index of Names. Index of Subjects.