Vertiefungsseminar Why Am I Laughing Humour in Medieval English Literature Do 14:30-16:00

-Certain essential aspects of the world are accessible only to laughter.” Mikhail Bakhtin – Rabelais and his World (1968) Humour is a concept that is omnipresent in our culture, yet nobody is able to define what it actually is and how it functions. Over the centuries, philosophers and thinkers have attempted to explain what the essence of something humorous is, yet we are still not close to a satisfying definition. The relatively new term humour, used in its current sense since the 17th century, is an elusive one. Until the 20th century, the assessment of humour was rather negative, mostly focussing on the negative, e.g. the derisive laughter. For Plato, laughter was an emotion that overrides the rational self-control and had a malicious intention. Later Christian thinkers were influenced by the traditional negative Greek concept, and the negative representations of laughter in the Bible additionally fuelled the suspicion. Despite the largely negative assessment, a minority of the learned - such as Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas - acknowledged the positive aspects of humorous engagement. The use of humorous discourse became especially remarkable in the literature of the High Middle Ages. In the course of the seminar, we will explore the complex concept of humour and its specific representations in medieval literature. Modern approaches about humour, laughter or carnival theory by Henri Bergson, John Morreall or Mikhail Bakhtin will be applied to medieval texts in order to come to a closer understanding of what 'medieval humour' might be and how humour was used as a vehicle in the texts' discourse. We will explore characteristics and mechanisms of humour and how it elicits laughter in the audience, essentially attempting to answer the question: why am I laughing? 'Humorous' primary texts will be taken from various genres and authors such as Geoffrey Chaucer's fabliaux, The Land of Cockaygne, exempla from Robert Mannyng's Handlyng Synne or selected mystery plays. Anglistik u.Amerikanistik (BA, PO 2013) Kernfach Basic Module I: Ältere Anglistik (Introduction to Medieval English Studies I & II) AP: oral exam or term paper (10-15 pgs.) Teilnahmeschein: requirements will be announced in the first session Universität Düsseldorf SoSe 2016 Abourizq Khadija