The Game of Humor: A Comprehensive Theory of Why We Laugh [Paperback]

Charles R. Gruner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1999

Humor, wit, and laughter surround us. From everyday quips to the carefully contrived comedy of literature, newspapers, and television we experience humor in many forms, yet the impetus for our laughter is far from innocuous.

The Game of Humor makes intriguing and enjoyable reading for people interested in humor and the aspects of human motivation. This book will also be valuable to professionals in communication and information studies, sociologists, literary critics and linguists, and psychologists concerned with the conflicts and tensions of everyday life, as well as students in these areas.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Gruner's description of humor as a game with winners, losers, and spectators certainly makes superiority theory more palatable. His discussion is both scholarly and personal. It is also highly entertaining. In the game of humor studies this book is a winner." -- Peter Derks, professor of psychology, College of William and Mary

"Humor is a game. Humor is an athletic competition. Humor is war. Humor always has winners and losers. This is what Charles Gruner claims in his The Game of Humor. And if you don't believe him, enter his competition and win $10,000. As both Charles Gruner and Julius Caesar would say, 'Ven, Vidi, Vici.'" -- Don L. F. Nilsen, executive secretary, International Society for Humor Studies

"Joining the likes of Plato, Aristotle, and Thomas Hobbes, Charles Gruner proposes a new superiority theory of humor. Gruner makes a major contribution in extending the conceptualization of humor to that of a participatory game in which there are clear winners or losers. Teachers will find that this book strikes many responsive chords, because Gruner shares a lifetime of personal experience in teaching with and about humor. For years pundits have claimed that humor dies when placed under the scalpel of scholarly inquiry. They obviously have not read Charles R. Gruner's The Game of Humor. Enlivened by a lifetime of amusing anecdotes and an integrated collection of jokes from throughout the ages, this extension of superiority theories is both scholarly and scintillating." -- Jennings Bryant, director, Institute for Communication Research, The University of Alabama

About the Author

Charles R. Gruner is professor of speech communication at the University of Georgia. This is his second volume on humor. His first is Understanding Laughter.

Product Details

• Paperback: 226 pages
• Publisher: Transaction Publishers (September 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765806592
• ISBN-13: 978-0765806598
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,682,158 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars unprovocative thesis, July 10, 2010

By 

moulton8 - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Game of Humor: A Comprehensive Theory of Why We Laugh (Paperback)

The gist of Gruner's book is this: EVERY instance of humor involves a winner and a loser (like a game). Despite this being a decent observation that pertains to some humor, Gruner claims this is the case of ALL humor. In fact, he goes to great lengths to "demonstrate" how every joke or pun involves a winner and a loser. However, many of his examples are quite stretched to fit his personal grand theory. As far as I was concerned, his credibility fell apart after he refused to admit there were limitations to the generalizability of his theory; and of course there are limitations to every theory. Also, I found the book was quite long-winded and repetitive. It could have all been stated in under 100 pages. If not for the grandiose grand-theorizing and unnecessary long-windedness, I would have given the book 3 stars.