With an ongoing international conference, Jewish humor in recent years has been a subject of serious scholarly inquiry. Most academic publications, however, have been individual works representing a particular thesis or viewpoint, generally on literary aspects. The present collection of essays by scholars from England, France, the United States, Denmark, Israel, and Australia explores characteristics of Jewish humor from a variety of perspectives, including anthropology, literature, psychology, sociology, and religion.

Geographically, the work distinguishes between the Jewish humor of...

This volume represents a first in its analysis of historical trends in the humor of eight Western countries: Australia, Belgium, France, Great Britain, Israel, Italy, the United States, and Yugoslavia. In each country, the authors surveyed and assessed the national humor in a way designed to facilitate comparative study. Each essay details the historical development of national humor with an emphasis on the twentieth century and contemporary trends. The survey includes traditional and popular forms of humor as well as humor in literature, the performing and visual arts, and the mass media....