Der Geist der Komödie

Why philosophize about the comic? Why explore comedy from a philosophical and psychoanalytic perspective? In "The Odd One In," Alenka Zupančič analyzes how, on one hand, philosophy and psychoanalysis help us understand the mechanisms and logic of the comic, and on the other hand, how comedy can aid philosophy and psychoanalysis in grasping some fundamental effects and processes of what we call humanity. The essence of the comic is difficult to capture with terms and definitions; however, as an artistic form of expression and as a social practice, it is always a way to engage with the foreign - as a means of including the outsider. Zupančič draws on a wide range of philosophers and comedians, from Aristophanes, Molière, Hegel, Freud, and Lacan to George W. Bush and Borat. She makes distinctions along the way.