“Thoughtful…Fascinating.” New York Times Book Review
Description
In a major work of scholarship both erudite and very funny, Jeremy Dauber traces the origins of Jewish comedy and its development from Biblical times to the age of Twitter.
Organizing his book thematically into what he calls the seven strands of Jewish comedy—including the satirical, the witty, and the vulgar—Dauber explores the ways Jewish comedy has dealt with persecution, assimilation, and diaspora through the ages. He explains the rise and fall of popular comic archetypes such as the Jewish mother, the JAP, and the schlemiel and schlimazel. And he explores an enormous range of comic masterpieces, from the Book of Esther, Talmudic rabbi jokes, Yiddish satires, Borscht Belt skits, Seinfeld, and Curb Your Enthusiasm to the work of such masters as Sholem Aleichem, Franz Kafka, the Marx Brothers, Woody Allen, Joan Rivers, Philip Roth, Sarah Silverman, and Jon Stewart.
Praise
“Thoughtful…Fascinating.” New York Times Book Review
“A serious study and most interesting at its most serious and obscure.” New York Review of Books
“Brilliant and groundbreaking…[Dauber] tells a crucial part of the story of Judaism.” Adam Kirsch, author of The People and the Books
“Both erudite and breezy.” Forward magazine
“A serious and good philosophical work…that doesn’t consist entirely of jokes but has an awful lot of them in it…Some of its jokes are laugh-out-loud funny, and some of them are poignantly beautiful.” Times Literary Supplement (London)
Details
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| Release Day | Oct 30, 2017 |
| Release Date | October 31, 2017 |
| Release Date Machine | 1509408000 |
| Imprint | Blackstone Publishing |
| Provider | Blackstone Publishing |
| Categories | Comedy & Humor, Literature & Fiction, Arts & Entertainment, Entertainment & Performing Arts, Politics & Social Sciences, Social Sciences, Nonfiction - Adult, Nonfiction - All |
Author Bio
Jeremy Dauber is a professor of Jewish literature and American studies at Columbia University. He is the author of several nonfiction books on Jewish history and literature, and his Jewish Comedy was a finalist for the Natan Book Award.
Narrator Bio
Jeremy Dauber is a professor of Jewish literature and American studies at Columbia University. He is the author of several nonfiction books on Jewish history and literature, and his Jewish Comedy was a finalist for the Natan Book Award.
Overview
In a major work of scholarship both erudite and very funny, Jeremy Dauber traces the origins of Jewish comedy and its development from Biblical times to the age of Twitter.
Organizing his book thematically into what he calls the seven strands of Jewish comedy—including the satirical, the witty, and the vulgar—Dauber explores the ways Jewish comedy has dealt with persecution, assimilation, and diaspora through the ages. He explains the rise and fall of popular comic archetypes such as the Jewish mother, the JAP, and the schlemiel and schlimazel. And he explores an enormous range of comic masterpieces, from the Book of Esther, Talmudic rabbi jokes, Yiddish satires, Borscht Belt skits, Seinfeld, and Curb Your Enthusiasm to the work of such masters as Sholem Aleichem, Franz Kafka, the Marx Brothers, Woody Allen, Joan Rivers, Philip Roth, Sarah Silverman, and Jon Stewart.
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