The Joke and Its Relation to the Unconscious (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

Sigmund Freud (Author), Joyce Crick (Translator), John Carey (Introduction)

Book Description

Series: Penguin Classics | Publication Date: June 24, 2003

Why do we laugh? The answer, argued Freud in this groundbreaking study of humor, is that jokes, like dreams, satisfy our unconscious desires. The Joke and Its Relation to the Unconscious explains how jokes provide immense pleasure by releasing us from our inhibitions and allowing us to express sexual, aggressive, playful, or cynical instincts that would otherwise remain hidden. In elaborating this theory, Freud brings together a rich collection of puns, witticisms, one-liners, and anecdotes, which, as Freud shows, are a method of giving ourselves away.

Translated by Joyce Crick.
Introduction by John Carey.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) lived his entire life in Vienna until Hitler's invasion of Austria forced him to seek asylum in London in 1938. The father of psychoanalysis, he exerted a profound influence over the whole intellectual climate of the twentieth century.

Adam Phillips was formerly Principal Child Psychotherapist at Charing Cross Hospital in London. He is the author of several books on psychoanalysis, including On Kissing, Tickling, and Being Bored; Darwin's Worms; Promises, Promises; and Houdini's Box.

Joyce Crick was for many years a senior lecturer in German at University College London. In 2000, she was awarded the Schlegel Tieck Prize for her translation of Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams for Oxford University Press.

John Carey is an emeritus professor of English at Oxford, a fellow of the British Academy, and chief book reviewer for the London Sunday Times.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (June 24, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142437441
• ISBN-13: 978-0142437445
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #89,850 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jokes are not a joke, October 29, 2005

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Joke and Its Relation to the Unconscious (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

For Freud jokes were not just fooling around, not primarily a means of play, not in short something of trivial importance. Rather they were expressions of our deepest instinctual drives and needs. Like errors in everyday life they are governed by an inner intentionality, and purposiveness.
Here it might be said that Freud exaggerates or is too extreme in his point- of- view and does not explain all humor by it.