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HUMOUR IS a LAUGHING MATTER: the Existential Humour of Saki, Life of Brian and the Hitchhiker’S Guide to the Galaxy

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HUMOUR IS a LAUGHING MATTER: the Existential Humour of Saki, Life of Brian and the Hitchhiker’S Guide to the Galaxy HUMOUR IS A LAUGHING MATTER: The Existential Humour of Saki, Life of Brian and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Dissertação apresentada à Universidade Católica Portuguesa para obtenção do grau de mestre em Estudos de Cultura Por Hugo Simões Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas Outubro 2017 HUMOUR IS A LAUGHING MATTER The Existential Humour of Saki, Life of Brian and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Dissertação apresentada à Universidade Católica Portuguesa para obtenção do grau de mestre em Estudos de Cultura Por Hugo Simões Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas Sob orientação da Professora Doutora Alexandra Lopes Outubro 2017 Abstract Humour is a complex, multifaceted phenomenon, the nature of which has eluded authors from Classical Antiquity to contemporary modernity. This dissertation explores some of the most important writings on humour to date, in an attempt to provide a well-rounded, critical approach to its most relevant characteristics, such as its relation to play, incongruity, relief, and superiority. These characteristics, and in particular the fact that humour seems to be deeply embedded in the tragic existential aspects of the human condition, then form the theoretical backbone of the subsequent analysis of three short stories by Saki, Monty Python’s Life of Brian and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, mostly through a practice of close reading. Each of these works, it is argued, reveal a particular outlook on the human condition through the exploration of its inherent incongruities – both on a social and individual level. They are also shown to, in the face of tragedy, encourage the adoption of a detached perspective that derives enjoyment from these incongruities, in what ultimately seems to be a life-affirming practice that seeks solace in the bleakest aspects of our existence. Keywords: Humour, Incongruity, Existential, Relief, Superiority, Saki, Monty Python, Douglas Adams, Laughter. O humor é um fenómeno complexo e multifacetado cuja natureza tem vindo a iludir pensadores desde a Antiguidade Clássica até à modernidade. Esta dissertação explora alguns dos escritos mais imporantes sobre humor, numa tentativa de providenciar uma análise crítica e completa das suas características mais relevantes, como a sua relação com “o lúdico”, a incongruência, o alívio e a superioridade. Estas características, e em particular o facto do humor parecer estar tão profundamente enraízado nos aspectos trágicos da condição humana, informam a análise subsequente de três contos de Saki (Hector Hugh Munro), d’A Vida de Brian, dos Monty Python, e d’À Boleia Pela Galáxia de Douglas Adams, análise essa que é feita maioritariamente através de uma prática de close reading. Nesta dissertação argumenta-se que cada uma destas obras revela uma visão específica da condição humana através da exploração das incongruências que lhe são inerentes – tanto a nível social como individual. Argumenta-se também que, face à tragédia, encorajam a adopção de uma perspectiva que retire prazer destas incongruências, no que acaba por ser uma prática que procura consolo nos aspectos mais sombrios da existência. Keywords: Humor, Incongruência, Existentialismo, Alívio, Superioridade, Saki, Monty Python, Douglas Adams, Riso. Table of Contents 1. Introduction – Humour and Culture Studies ............................................................................ 1 1.1 Humour, Towards a Thick Description ........................................................................................ 4 1.1.1 The origins of the word humour ................................................................................................ 4 1.1.2 Humour and Laughter ............................................................................................................... 6 1.1.3 Comic Amusement .................................................................................................................... 9 1.1.4 Subjectivity and Objectivity .................................................................................................... 15 1.1.5 Incongruity .............................................................................................................................. 25 1.1.6 Superiority ............................................................................................................................... 33 1.1.7 Release/Relief ......................................................................................................................... 38 1.1.8 Play .......................................................................................................................................... 41 1.1.9 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 42 2. The Humour of Saki, Monty Python’s Life of Brian and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy .......................................................................................................................................... 43 2.1 Englishness – A Brief Introduction ............................................................................................ 43 2.2 Saki and the Ceremonial Farce ................................................................................................... 45 2.2.1 "Esmé" ..................................................................................................................................... 49 2.2.2 "Tobermory"............................................................................................................................ 61 2.2.3 "The Unrest-Cure" ................................................................................................................... 66 2.3 Monty Python’s Life of Brian..................................................................................................... 72 2.3.1 The Beginning: The Three Wise Men and Brian’s Journey to Adulthood .............................. 72 2.3.2 The Sermon on the Mount ....................................................................................................... 74 2.3.3 The Stoning ............................................................................................................................. 75 2.3.4 Nortius Maximus and the People’s Front of Judea ................................................................. 76 2.3.5 Brian’s Arrest: Pontius Pilate and Biggus Dickus ................................................................... 81 2.3.6 The Prophets and the Haggling ............................................................................................... 84 2.3.7 Brian’s Capture, Pilate’s Speech ............................................................................................. 88 2.3.8 The Crucifixion ....................................................................................................................... 89 2.4 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy ........................................................................................ 95 3. Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 111 4. Bibliography: .............................................................................................................................. 114 1. Introduction – Humour and Culture Studies The word “culture” has a variety of different meanings and definitions. In order to understand the relevance of humour in relation to this concept and Culture Studies in general, it is imperative to clarify which of these definitions will be used and how they relate to the field. In her Introduction to Cultural Studies, Aleida Assman explores what she considers the six main concepts one can derive from the word “culture”. Of these six, three “involve value judgements and three do not” (Assman, 2012: 12). These include: “cultivation in the sense of optimizing and upgrading a thing or an act”, which is close to its Latin etymological origin of “colere”; a term for geographical and political entities, describing a “national character”; an ethnographic concept describing the entirety of human activity, past, present and future; a normative concept, synonymous with “high culture”; a similarly normative concept, synonymous with “progress” and civilization” as opposed to “barbarism”; and finally, a third normative concept, mainly indebted to the Frankfurt School, representing the almost “sacrosanct” character of a civilization and artistic production at odds with the mass production of the “culture industry” (ibid.: 13-16). This veritable palette of meanings has a repercussion in the field of Cultural Studies, which is commonly referred to as interdisciplinary to a fault: “Cultural studies – and this is both their positive and their negative character – do not have any clear-cut definitions. They simply study culture. Culture is everything that is made or done by humans” (ibid.: 18). In this sense, of course, it would be easy to justify the relevance of humour to the field of Culture Studies – humour is a distinctly human activity. Animals, as far as we can tell, do not engage in humour. This, however, may not be explanation enough for why humour is a relevant slice of culture to the point of warranting research and analysis. This is where the broadest definition of culture becomes troublesome: “[w]ith the complete removal of all cultural boundaries and distinctions between major and minor, high and low,
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