Building on the crucial insight that jokes use many of the same mechanisms he ha
d already discovered in dreams, Freud developed one of the richest and most comp
rehensive theories of humor that has ever been produced. Jokes, he argues, provi
de immense pleasure by allowing us to express many of our deepest sexual, aggres
sive and cynical thoughts and feelings which would otherwise remain repressed. I
n elaborating this central thesis, he brings together a dazzling set of puns, an
ecdotes, snappy one-liners, spoonerisms and beloved stories of Jewish beggars an
d marriage-brokers.
Many remain highly amusing, while others throw a vivid li
ght on the lost world of early twentieth-century Vienna.
