Front cover image for The soul of wit : joke theory from Grimm to Freud

The soul of wit : joke theory from Grimm to Freud

Carl Hill
Witz first became a burning issue for German intellectuals after 1671 when le Pere Dominique Bonhours in his Entretiens d'Ariste et d'Eugene informed them that they didn't have any. According to Bonhours, it wasn't really the Germans' fault that they were a little dim, it is just that they live in a cold climate and tend to be fat. A feud between French bel esprit and German Intellekt erupted that has persisted ever since
Print Book, English, ©1993
University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, ©1993
244 pages ; 24 cm
9780803223691, 0803223692
27768523