{"product_id":"laughter-an-essay-on-the-meaning-of-the-comic-paperback-2","title":"Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eWyndham Lewis\u003c\/b\u003e (Afterword by), \u003cb\u003eHenri Bergson\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eSimon Critchley\u003c\/b\u003e (Introduction by)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhy do we laugh? What does comedy reveal about human nature, society, and the mind's strange elasticity? \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this classic 1900 essay, philosopher Henri Bergson anatomises the comic impulse with surgical clarity and lyrical wit. For Bergson, laughter is no mere reflex. It is a social gesture, a corrective, a way for life itself to defend its supple intelligence against rigidity and habit. From pratfalls to irony, from the mechanical in the living to the absurd in the everyday, his argument ranges effortlessly between metaphysics and vaudeville. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWith a new introduction by Simon Critchley, \u003ci\u003eLaughter\u003c\/i\u003e emerges as both a foundational text in aesthetics and a startlingly modern theory of humour--anticipating Freud, Chaplin, and memes alike. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAn appended essay by Wyndham Lewis offers a bracing counterpoint: a modernist's rejoinder to Bergson's genial philosophy. Together they trace the fault-lines between laughter and cruelty, vitality and violence, thought and form. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA century on, Bergson's question still bites: what makes us laugh--and why does it matter?\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHenri Bergson was one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century, celebrated for his explorations of time, consciousness, and creative evolution. Born in Paris to a Polish-Jewish family, he taught at the Collège de France and became the first philosopher to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1927). His major works--\u003ci\u003eTime and Free Will\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMatter and Memory\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eCreative Evolution\u003c\/i\u003e--profoundly shaped modern thought, influencing writers and thinkers from Proust and Joyce to Deleuze and Merleau-Ponty. In \u003ci\u003eLaughter\u003c\/i\u003e, Bergson turned his distinctive blend of intuition and analysis to the comic spirit, uncovering the deep connection between humour, vitality, and the social life of the mind. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSimon Critchley is a British philosopher and writer whose work spans ethics, politics, literature, and tragedy. He is the Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York and a frequent contributor to \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e. His many books include \u003ci\u003eVery Little... Almost Nothing\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Book of Dead Philosophers\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eInfinitely Demanding\u003c\/i\u003e, and, recently published by ERIS, \u003ci\u003e I Want to Die, I Hate my Life\u003c\/i\u003e. Known for his wit and clarity, Critchley is one of today's most widely read and engaging public philosophers. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWyndham Lewis (1882-1957) was a British novelist, painter, and polemicist, and one of the most formidable figures of early modernism. Founder of the Vorticist movement and editor of \u003ci\u003eBLAST\u003c\/i\u003e, he combined radical visual experimentation with acerbic social critique. His novels, among them \u003ci\u003eTarr\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Apes of God\u003c\/i\u003e, and essays such as \u003ci\u003eThe Art of Being Ruled\u003c\/i\u003e made him both admired and feared in his lifetime. Lewis's writing on comedy reflects his lifelong preoccupation with the relation between laughter, aggression, and modernity.\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 160\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.39 x 7.72 x 4.92 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e March 10, 2026\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53146681770291,"sku":"9781967751846","price":48.38,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0300\/5595\/6612\/files\/569eFSQZMv9781967751846.webp?v=1773868743","url":"https:\/\/www.vysn.com\/en-ca\/products\/laughter-an-essay-on-the-meaning-of-the-comic-paperback-2","provider":"VYSN","version":"1.0","type":"link"}