Rationale of the Dirty Joke
Encyclopedia
Rationale of the Dirty Joke: An Analysis of Sexual Humor is a book by American
social critic and folklorist
Gershon Legman
. The book analyzes more than 2000 jokes and folk tales in terms of social, psychological, and historical significance. It was first published by Grove Press
in 1968, was later reprinted in hard-cover by Indiana University, and was years out of print until reissued by Simon & Schuster
in 2006. No Laughing Matter : Rationale of the Dirty Joke: An Analysis of Sexual Humor, 2nd Series, the second volume had to be paid by subscription to support publishing, as it was the "dirty dirties"
According to literary critic Mikita Brottman
, "Contemporary humor theorists now ... give a warm, good-natured cast to the telling of jokes, without the nastiness and aggression that Legman -- and, indeed, Freud -- regard as an integral part of the joke-telling enterprise."
There were several book-review articles about this book published in 1969. Brottman suggests, however, "all its reviewers seem to have misunderstood ... that the point of the book ... is trying to understand what the dirty joke itself is trying to explain".
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
social critic and folklorist
Folkloristics
Folkloristics is the formal academic study of folklore. The term derives from a nineteenth century German designation of folkloristik to distinguish between folklore as the content and folkloristics as its study, much as language is distinguished from linguistics...
Gershon Legman
Gershon Legman
Gershon Legman was an American cultural critic and folklorist.-Life and work:Legman was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania to Emil and Julia Friedman Legman, both of Hungarian/Romanian Jewish descent; his father was a railroad clerk and butcher...
. The book analyzes more than 2000 jokes and folk tales in terms of social, psychological, and historical significance. It was first published by Grove Press
Grove Press
Grove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1951. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it into an alternative book press in the United States. The Atlantic Monthly Press, under the aegis of its...
in 1968, was later reprinted in hard-cover by Indiana University, and was years out of print until reissued by Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
in 2006. No Laughing Matter : Rationale of the Dirty Joke: An Analysis of Sexual Humor, 2nd Series, the second volume had to be paid by subscription to support publishing, as it was the "dirty dirties"
According to literary critic Mikita Brottman
Mikita Brottman
Mikita Brottman is a British scholar, psychoanalyst, author and cultural critic known for her psychological readings of the dark and pathological elements of contemporary culture...
, "Contemporary humor theorists now ... give a warm, good-natured cast to the telling of jokes, without the nastiness and aggression that Legman -- and, indeed, Freud -- regard as an integral part of the joke-telling enterprise."
There were several book-review articles about this book published in 1969. Brottman suggests, however, "all its reviewers seem to have misunderstood ... that the point of the book ... is trying to understand what the dirty joke itself is trying to explain".
See also
- Off-color humorOff-color humorThe term off-color humor is an Americanism used to describe jokes, prose, poems, black comedy, blue comedy, insult comedy, cringe comedy and skits that deal with topics that are considered to be in poor taste or overly vulgar by the prevailing morality of a culture...
- Black comedyBlack comedyA black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
- RibaldryRibaldryRibaldry is humorous entertainment that ranges from bordering on indelicacy to gross indecency. It is also referred to as "bawdiness", "gaminess" or "bawdry"....
- Toilet humour