Židovská smiechová kultúra

Jewish Laughter Culture

Tibor Žilka

IN: Stredoeurópske pohľady, Vol. II., Issue 1, 2020, pp. 7-14, ISSN 2644-6367 (print), ISSN-2644-6472 (online)

DOI: 10.17846/CEV.2020.02.1.7-14

Abstract:

The author focuses on the occurrence of specific means of expression which are characteristic for Jewish humour and its culture, dating back to the distant past. It studies mainly anecdotes and jokes as the most popular “products” of urban folklore, but also their structure and linguistic-stylistic peculiarities. The author concluded in his reflections that Jewish humour manifests the wisdom of this ethnicity and the specific texts of this provenance have their permanent characters such as a rabbi, a merchant, or a doctor. Some names such as Kohn, Stern, Grün, etc. are repeated. In the paper, each of these features of Jewish humour is thoroughly interpreted and explained. Individual phenomena of “laughter culture” are also analysed on the basis of heuristic material and examples from the artistic work of writers and poets (Pavol Strauss, Tomas Janovic, Edgar Hilsenrath). Particular emphasis is also placed on the function of humour in Jewish culture and its representatives. Some of them are not only writers, but also good theoreticians. Peter Karvaš is an example of this phenomenon.

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