ABSTRACT
The three chapters of Part II take up different aspects of Freud’s basic contributions to the place of sexuality in understanding the lives of human beings. Freud’s interests extended in many directions, among them the clinical, of course, but also the linguistic and the social, among which telling jokes plays a prominent part. Each of my three chapters takes up one of these interests. The clinical requires no further comment here. The linguistic I take up in two areas that have already received their share of critical examination: male homosexuality and perversion. In these areas I believe I have some useful points to add to what has already been taken up. These are points developed in the context of contemporary critical thought—approaches not available in Freud’s time. In the third realm—jokes—I bring together the ego psychological updating of Freud’s theory of the comic developed by Ernst Kris and contemporary concerns with the sexual politics implicit in many of our seemingly innocuous and even playful social practices, such as telling jokes.
