The Mirth of Nations
The Mirth of Nations is a social and historical study of jokes told in the principal English-speaking countries. It is based on use of archives and other primary sources, including old and rare joke books. Davies makes detailed comparisons between the humor of specific pairs of nations and ethnic and regional groups. In this way, he achieves an appreciation of the unique characteristics of the humor of each nation or group.\ A tightly argued book, The Mirth of Nations uses the comparative...
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Davies (sociology, U. of Reading, UK) examines the social implications of ethnic jokes, based on his research in Japan, the US, Scotland, and Canada. Jokes about Jews, Poles, Newfoundlanders, and Scots are analyzed with consideration to the narrator and audience. Davies disagrees with earlier theories that suggest ethnic jokes are an expression of aggression, arguing for the presence instead of the ethnic group's own self-analysis of the conflicts inherent in its religious and cultural mores. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR Booknews Davies (sociology, U. of Reading, UK) examines the social implications of ethnic jokes, based on his research in Japan, the US, Scotland, and Canada. Jokes about Jews, Poles, Newfoundlanders, and Scots are analyzed with consideration to the narrator and audience. Davies disagrees with earlier theories that suggest ethnic jokes are an expression of aggression, arguing for the presence instead of the ethnic group's own self-analysis of the conflicts inherent in its religious and cultural mores. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Acknowledgmentsix1.Introduction12.The Self-Mocking Scottish Sense of Humor173.The Balanced Jewish Sense of Humor514.Jokes about Jewish Women and Australian Men775.Canadian Jokes about Newfoundlanders: Neighborly, Bilingual, North American1096.Jokes about Newfies and Jokes Told by Newfoundlanders1357.American Jokes about Poles1518.Polish Jokes and Polish Conflicts1739.Conclusion201General Bibliography229Index247
\ From the Publisher"The Mirth of Nations is a must for humor scholars. It is truly interdisciplinary: It makes use of insights of linguistics in order to answer questions posed within sociology and humor studies. It is truly scholarly, unbiased and non-ideological." "... a pleasure to read, the style is lucid, and the voice of the author is unmistakable and strong; the repetition of related points in many parts of the book only serves to strengthen overall argument. What is striking is the joy with which Davies refutes apparently false claims, expressing his surprise at the fact that their proponents did not bother to look for arguments to support their theses. The true value of the study thus consists in the power of its argument, which is derived from the thorough archive research and the intellectual honesty of the author, who allows the picture of ethnic joking to be complex and does not cover up difficult issues." —Humor "Davies... is a renaissance man who moves effortlessly across disciplinary boundaries and has made particularly original contributions in the area of religion, the military, social control, crime, and penology. He is... a sceptic about the taken-for-granted and someone with a mordant tongue and pen for identifying the spurious and unexamined behind the facade of 'the obvious'." —Journal of Contemporary Religion "The importance of The Mirth of Nations is that it takes jokes back from the theorists and returns them to the comedians. And that's all of us." —The New Criterion "Christie Davies [is] the leading authority on comparative ethnic humor..." —American Journal of Sociology "The demon that drives Davis to such extraordinary lengths is a determination to slay all those apostles of political correctness who regard jokes about religious and ethnic minorities as a likely cause of prejudice, hojstility and even aggression towards such groups. There is, he argues, a dangerous circularity about this conventional liveral view. Davies reckons that we can get off this roundabout, only by looking carefully at the relationship between two sets of "social facts": the patterns of actual jokes and the social and cultural setting within which they occur. Consider American jokes about Poles." —The Times Higher Education Supplement\ \ \ \ \ BooknewsDavies (sociology, U. of Reading, UK) examines the social implications of ethnic jokes, based on his research in Japan, the US, Scotland, and Canada. Jokes about Jews, Poles, Newfoundlanders, and Scots are analyzed with consideration to the narrator and audience. Davies disagrees with earlier theories that suggest ethnic jokes are an expression of aggression, arguing for the presence instead of the ethnic group's own self-analysis of the conflicts inherent in its religious and cultural mores. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)\ \
