The Finkler Question: Very Funny is Very Serious.

Authors

  • Aída Díaz Bild

Keywords:

Jewish, comedy, seriousness, transcendence, anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism.

Abstract

Most critics agree that Jewish humour is defined by its capacity to laugh in the face of despair, tragedy, persecution. Humour has been a source of salvation for the Jews, allowing them to survive in a hostile world. Howard Jacobson is an English Jewish writer who has always celebrated the important role that comedy plays in literature. He regrets the false division between comedy and seriousness that critics have created and firmly believes that comedy reaffirms the value of life by offering us a way to transcend our sadness and misfortunes. In The Finkler Question humour indeed fulfils this redeeming function and allows Jacobson to tackle the dark forces of anti-Semitism.

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Author Biography

Aída Díaz Bild

Universidad de La Laguna

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Published

2013-01-06

How to Cite

Díaz Bild, A. (2013). The Finkler Question: Very Funny is Very Serious. Atlantis. Journal of the Spanish Association for Anglo-American Studies, 35(1), 85–101. Retrieved from https://atlantisjournal.org/index.php/atlantis/article/view/52

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Section

Articles