ABSTRACT
Death is not part of life; death is the end of life. At the same time, the incommensurableness of comedy and death permits comedy to serve as a tiny weapon against death (just as death extinguishes comedy). Have we coveted any kind of peace between comedy and death? That would be to spoil everything-and it is out of the question anyway. Life and comedy can triumph only insofar as death is put to death. In a word, this book is a special kind of joke-as is the remainder of the trilogy. As Steve Martin has it, humor isn’t pretty. I suggest that this last applies even more to the reaches of comedy, a category deeper and wider than humor as such.
