The Game of Humor: A Comprehensive Theory of Why We Laugh / Edition 1

by Charles R. Gruner

Overview

Humor, wit, and laughter surround each person. From everyday quips to the carefully contrived comedy of literature, newspapers, and television we experience humor in many forms, yet the impetus for our laughter is far from innocuous

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780765806598
Publisher:	Transaction Publishers
Publication date:	01/30/1999
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	204
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Charles R. Gruner is professor of speech communication at the University of Georgia. This is his second volume on humor. His first is Understanding Laughter.

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1: Win Or Lose: The Games We Play; 2: Conflict in Daily Life; 3: Drollery in Death, Destruction, and Disaster; 4: Comic Scripts: Laughing at People, Groups, and Concepts; 5: Sexual, Sexist, and Scatological Humor; 6: The Special Case of Puns: Word play is a Game to be Won, Too.; 7: The Mirage of “Innocent” Humor

Editorial Reviews

Gruner expounds on Koestler's notion that aggression is the one indispensable ingredient for humor by taking on the daunting task of finding aggressive themes in hundreds of instances of humor over a wide historical period… A controversial book written in a confrontational style, which will provide much material for debate.” —K. M. Dillon, Choice

From the Publisher