Laughter in Literature

Although laughter is considered understudied by some people, [John Morreall "Taking Laughter Seriously" (1983) p.ix] laughter and humor in literature has received attention in the written word for millennia. Laughter in literature has been famously studied by Henri Bergson.

=Laughter for the Greeks=

Herodotus

for Herodotus Laughers can be distinguished into three types [Donald Lateiner "No laughing matter: a literary tactic in Herodotus", Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974-), Vol. 107. (1977), pp. 173-182. (http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0360-5949%281977%29107%3C173%3ANLMALT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-W]
*Those who are innocent of wrong-doing, but ignorant of their own vulnerability.
*Those who are mad.
*Those who are over-confident.According to Donald Lateiner Herodotus reports about laughter for valid literary and historiological reasons. "Herodotus believes either that both nature (better, the gods' direction of it) and human nature coincide sufficiently, "or" that the latter is but an aspect or analogue of the former, so that to the recipient the outcome is suggested." [ibid. p. 180] When reporting laughter Herodotus does so in the conviction that it tells the reader something about the future and/or the character of the person laughing. It is also in this sense that it is not conicidental that in about eighty percent of the times when Herodotus speaks about Laughter it is followed by a retribution."Men whose laughter deserves report are marked, because laughter connotes scornful disdain, disdain feeling of superiority, and this feeling and the actions which stem from it attract the wrath of the gods." [ibid. p. 181]

=Modern Laughter=

Hobbes

Hobbes understands the superiority of the laugher in a much wider sense than the aesthetic and quasi-moral sense of Aristotle, the seeds of the superiority theory are definitely Greek. [David Heyd "The Place of Laughter in Hobbes's Theory of Emotions", Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 43, No. 2. (Apr. - Jun., 1982), pp. 285-295. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-5037%28198204%2F06%2943%3A2%3C285%3ATPOLIH%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Y ] In Hobbes' own words: "The passion of laughter is nothing else but sudden glory arising from sudden conception of some eminency in ourselves, by comparison with the infirmity of others, or with our own formerly."

Gogol

There exists a clear dichotomy in Gogol both as a writer and as a person. He battled with himself being a tragicomic figure and his expectations of himself and "he was haunted by the desire to do something nobler, something of benefit to the Russian people, and it was this desire which destroyed him as an artist and as a man." [R. W. Hallett "The Laughter of Gogol", Russian Review, Vol. 30, No. 4. (Oct., 1971), pp. 373-384.http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0036-0341%28197110%2930%3A4%3C373%3ATLOG%3E2.0.CO%3B2-8 p. 377 ] "Elements of the comic characterize most of the fiction of Gogol, who wrote less purely serious literature than, for example, Chekhov. The laughter aroused by this fiction has been a prime factor in guaranteeing that it continues to be read more than a century after Gogol's death." [ibid. p.373] "Throughout his life, indeed, Gogol remained a comic writer in spite of himself." [ibid. p. 374] and "Like so many blessed with the gift of making others laugh, he was himself an extremely unhappy man whose comic vein was both an escape from, and a consequence of a profound melancholia." [ibid. pp. 375,376 ] "Gogol's faulty judgment of his talent as a writer is evident almost from the beginning of his literary career he had first conceived of himself as a Romantic poet" [ibid. p. 374]

Nietzsche

At least two different kinds of purpose for Nietzsche usage of laughter can be distinguished. In a positive sense, "man uses the comical as a therapy against the restraining jacket of logic morality and reason. He needs from time to time a harmless demotion from reason and hardship and in this sense laughter has a positive character for Nietzsche." [Tarmo Kunnas, "Nietzsches lachen: Eine studie über das Komische bei Nietzsche", Edition Wissenschaft & literatur, 1982, p. 42] It can however also have a negative connotation when it is used for the expression of social conflict. this expressed for instance in the gay science "Laughter -- Laugther means to be schadenfroh, but with clear conscience." [Nietzsche, KSA 3, p. 506]

"Possibly Nietzsche's works would have had a totally different effect, if the playful, ironical and joking in his writings would have been factored in better" [Tarmo Kunnas, Nietzsches lachen. p.149]

=Notes=