Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious

by Sigmund Freud

Book Overview

Freud argues that the "joke-work" is intimately related to the "dream-work" which he had analyzed in detail in his Interpretation of Dreams, and that jokes (like all forms of humor) attest to the fundamental orderliness of the human mind.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393001458
• ISBN13: 9780393001457
• Release Date: September 1990
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.2" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

AN UNUSUAL ENTRY INTO FREUD'S WORKS

This 1905 book about the psychological origins of humor is a welcome change from the often ponderous theoretical musings of Freud. Here are some representative quotations from the book: "Strictly speaking, we do not know what we are laughing about. In all obscene jokes we succumb to striking mistakes of judgment about the 'goodness' of the joke as far as it depends upon formal conditions; the technique of these jokes is often very poor while their laughing effect is enormous." (On "Jewish jokes which originate with Jews"): "I do not know whether one oftens finds a people that makes merry so unreservedly over its own shortcomings." "Where the argument seeks to draw the hearer's reason to its side, wit strives to push aside this reason. There is no doubt that wit has chosen the way which is psychologically more efficacious." "We know, too, in the case of wit that it is not a strange person's, but one's own mental processes that contain the sources for the production of pleasure." "Humor can now be conceived as the loftiest of these defense functions. It disdains to withdraw from conscious attention ideas which are connected with the painful affect, as repression does, and it, thus, overcomes the defense automatism."

To make a Freudian slip on a banana peel

Freud did not see jokes as minor nonsense and insignificance. He saw them as deeper messages delivered to us from our unconscious. He saw them as telling the secrets about ourselves to ourselves and the world that we do not necessarily want to tell. He saw them as acts of aggression and as acts of self- defense. In fact Freud is one of the few theorists of jokes and laughter that the world has had. In my opinion while Freud's understanding of jokes is not exhaustive and all- comprehensive it does illuminate much about a certain kind of humor. And it does teach us something about ourselves which we had not really noticed before Freud taught it to us. Freud himself is of course a source of endless jokes today , but it is not wrong to say that at least some of these jokes should be about his great genius and ability to see and say where others before him did not.

Freud loosens up a little

The logic of Freud can sometimes be overbearing when he is dealing with the makings of a joke. However, he does at times seem to drop his guard, speak in easy to understand terms, and give information that can be understood. If anyone is pursuing comedy in any form, this book would be helpful, and will help you compare your analyzation of what you do with someone who knew very well how the human mind worked. I've applied several of his concepts on stage and have found them successful.

As brilliant as his "The Interpretation of Dreams".

Found Freud in your search? You are no amateur or you are a real explorer of unkown lands. Even a beginner with Freud can enjoy this brilliant analysis of the fun behind wit and jokes. Don't think knowing why things are funny will reduce your pleasure in them....far from it, you will understand yourself and others better, you will find added sparkle in wit and discover the land mines hidden in the tall grass of laughter. Though not for the linguistically challenged, Freud richly rewards the determined reader. Take him on