Terry Eagleton: On Humour

Whether sassing Saussure, larking with Lukács or having a jaff with Julia Kristeva, a sharp sense of humour has been a characteristic of all Terry Eagleton’s work as a literary theorist and critic. Now, in Humour, he casts his penetrating eye over wit more widely. Why do we laugh? Is humour subversive, or can it defuse dissent? Can we define comedy?

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