Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book demonstrates the usefulness of reading texts through a framework of humour–culturally and historically, from antiquity to modernity–as "a nearly universal [and indispensable] component of human societies". It presents the complexity and richness of humour by treating distinctly some of the most defining texts of Western culture within their immediate historical contexts. The book deals with the profound impact on contemporary American (capitalist) culture that the Victorian-era American writer Samuel Clemens produces by marketing humour. Writers and artists have reacted to or against the Platonic/Aristotelian attack on humour throughout history, and their reactions can be categorised into at least three strands (satirical, sentimental, and liberating) which actually intersect with one another to some degree. Religious and political conflicts continued to play a large role in the subsequent development of humorous strategies.