Sigmund Freud | Jokes and the unconscious
The book stands somewhat apart from the rest of Freud's writings as a study of normal, rather than pathological psychology, and, although it contains the most closely reasoned accounts of complicated psychological processes that Freud ever gave, it remains one of his most readable works. It includes a rich collection of jokes, particularly those of Jewish folk tradition, in which Freud clearly revelled.
Freud deals with the unconscious and conscious sources of pleasure in jokes and wit, comedy and humour, examining the techniques of jokes, their aim, their social function and the role of the audience. He contrasts them with dreams - many of their mechanisms are similar, though their function is different. Jokes and humour allow us to release ideas and emotions which have been repressed, and the euphoria we reach is the same as "the mood of our childhood when we were ignorant of the comic, when we were incapable of jokes and when we had no need of humour to make us feel happy in our life".
This volume was edited by Angela Richards. Based on James Strachey's Standard Edition, this collection of 15 volumes is the first full paperback edition of Freud's works in English.
