Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious

"He quotes his predecessors. In Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious , Freud is quite generous in talking about Theodor Lipps and others who preceded him in writing books about humour. But I would absolutely say that the serious study of Jewish humour begins with Freud, and he remains, to my mind, its greatest analyst. Apparently it began with him just collecting these jokes, because he enjoyed them so much — and not just him, everyone in the circle. One of the things guys still do in my circles is to trade jokes, it’s really a form of social intercourse. But Freud’s book is a study rather than a mere collection of humour. I do appreciate the analysis that he does of the technique of jokes. He gives you really wonderful descriptions of techniques like condensation accompanied by substitution, condensation accompanied by slight modification and so on. He teaches you that really what you’re laughing at is not the content, but the form. Exactly, and that’s really very insightful and instructive. Then he talks about the purposes of humour, which is also instructive. We know about satire, we know about the humour that mocks others that Aristotle and others have written about. But Freud shows you that humour is also a way of telling the truth which would otherwise be impossible. And here is where this book really dazzles me. It’s a precursor of his book on Civilization and its Discontents . What he’s really saying is that the more civilized we become, and the more highly educated we become, the more we have to repress those things which would give children pleasure, that would give us delight ordinarily. And joking becomes a legitimate way of letting the truth out. What we call a Freudian slip is where the unconscious speaks. It’s as if joking is a Freudian slip which is deliberate. And he’s so eloquent about the pleasures: “I will gladly renounce all the methods of satisfaction proscribed by society, but am I certain that society will reward this renunciation by offering me one of the permitted methods – even after a certain amount of postponement? What these jokes whisper may be said aloud: that the wishes and desires of men have a right to make themselves acceptable alongside of exacting and ruthless morality.” This is breathtaking, don’t you think? And you can see, then, why Jews should be so drawn to this kind of humour. When you talk about ruthless morality, this is something Jewish civilization imposes on itself. All these laws — the Kosher laws that Philip Roth mocks — it’s all a form of restraining certain impulses so we become more civilized without even having to practise it, so it’s inculcated in us. But it really does hold us back from all kinds of things – hunting, aggression, and all this. What Freud is saying is that humour allows this in a permissible way. It’s a gift, this insight. Exactly, because you don’t want to accept the repression only, and feel that civilization is nothing but repression. These jokes have a right — there is something in us that has a right — to make itself heard. Humour is a way of allowing for all that we cannot allow ourselves because we are trying so hard to be civilized and good people."