ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses how the Victorians perceived humour in the increasingly intermedial texts prevalent in the nineteenth century. Whilst the terms “Victorian” and “humour” might seem incongruous from the stereotypical perception of stern gentlemen and coy ladies of that era, the Victorians enjoyed all manners of humour across multiple formats and genres that were constantly being integrated and melded together. The Victorians were accustomed to intermedial humour possibly because of their ability to reconcile the drastic social, political, industrial, and religious upheavals occurring in nineteenth-century Britain. An extended version of the popular incongruity theory is utilised to examine the psychological shifts involved in the appreciation of Victorian intermedial humour. The term “intermedial humour” is expressive because it allows us to focus on the correlation between different media in the intermedial texts, which typically encompasses verbal and visual elements. Ultimately, intermedial humour provides a recognisable intercongruity to explore how the Victorians reconciled change and incongruity brought about by rapid socio-political shifts.
