Masterclass 3: A Time to Laugh

The Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities (BIH) is an interdisciplinary institute within Birkbeck, University of London which engages with important public issues of our time through a series of open debates, lectures, seminars and conferences. The Institute attempts to promote new ideas and forms of understanding in the humanities, hosting many events with the highly rated Birkbeck Humanities research departments in cross-disciplinary work. It also provides short-term fellowships for a small number of scholars from Britain and overseas, chosen in open competition and invites prominent writers, broadcasters and public figures to spend short periods at the Institute.Bookings for our events are being taken via Eventbrite. Important Information: Eventbrite is a privately run platform for event booking. By booking via Eventbrite you will become an Eventbrite user, and your data will be processed by them as described in theirprivacy policy. In addition please note that data you regarding your booking and attendance at this event will be passed from Eventbrite to Birkbeck and processed in line with thisprivacy notice.Join the mailing list here - be the first to hear about our events

Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities

BIH Masterclass: A Time to Laugh - Session 3
Speaker: <A CLASS="external-link" HREF="http://www.english.upenn.edu/people/jean-michel-rabat%C3%A9" TARGET="_self" TITLE="" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Jean-Michel Rabaté, University of Pennsylvania</A>
Chair:  <A CLASS="external-link" HREF="http://www.bbk.ac.uk/bih/aboutus/staff/esther-leslie-acting-director-2015-16" TARGET="_self" TITLE="" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Esther Leslie, Co-Director, Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities</A> 
The recent US campaign and fraught election results have reminded us of the loaded political significance of political jokes and aggressive laughter. This masterclass will aim to explore the ideological underpinnings of laughter, its links with affect theory, and its impact on the culture of modernism. We will discuss a few foundational texts by Marx, Freud, Bergson and Lacan, and read literary texts by Gide, Beckett, Kafka, Lewis. Because the structure suggested by the Biblical quote, 'A time to laugh', is time-based, the three seminars will follow a temporal schema, while focusing on the question of the modern.
Session three: ‘Excess laughter: the Future’ will take us from Marx to Freud and from Gide to Bataille and Lacan. My ultimate aim would be to link the irrepressible laughter that caught Kafka by surprise one day as he faced the president of his insurance company (‘… now that I was in full spate, I was of course laughing not only at the current jokes, but at those of the past and the future and the whole lot together’)<A HREF="#_ftn1" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">[1]</A> and Walter Benjamin’s insight that the key to Kafka’s work could be found provided one were able to extract the ‘comic aspects from Jewish theology.’<A HREF="#_ftn2" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">[2]</A> 
<DIV>This is the third of three sessions that make up this Masterclass. The other sessions are on:</DIV>
<DIV>
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/masterclass-1-a-time-to-laugh-tickets-31832041493" TARGET="_blank" REL="noopener noreferrer">Session 1: 6 June, 2-4pm</A></LI>
<LI><A HREF="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/masterclass-2-a-time-to-laugh-tickets-31832172886" TARGET="_blank" REL="noopener noreferrer">Session 2, 7 June, 2-4pm</A></LI>
</UL>
You are welcome to join us for one or all of the sessions. 
Recommended reading: 
<UL>
<LI>
<DIV CLASS="MsoNormal">Freud, The Joke and its relation to the Unconscious, translated Joyce Crcik, London, Penguin, 2003. </DIV>
</LI>
<LI>
<DIV CLASS="MsoNormal">Henri Bergson, Laughter, on line, project Gutenberg. </DIV>
</LI>
<LI>
<DIV CLASS="MsoNormal">Walter Redfern, ‘Bad Jokes and Beckett,’ in French Laughter, Oxford U.P., 2008, p. 161-175. </DIV>
</LI>
<LI>
<DIV CLASS="MsoNormal">Patricia Gherovici and Manya Steinkoler, editors, Lacan, Psychoanalysis and Comedy, Cambridge U. P. 2016. </DIV>
</LI>
</UL>
<A HREF="http://www.english.upenn.edu/people/jean-michel-rabat%C3%A9" TARGET="_blank" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Jean-Michel Rabaté,</A> is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Pennsylvania. One of the founders and curators of Slought Foundation in Philadelphia (slought.org), he is a managing editor of the Journal of Modern Literature. Since 2008, he has been a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Rabaté has authored or edited 38 books on modernism, psychoanalysis, contemporary art, philosophy, and writers like Beckett,  Pound and Joyce. Recent books include Lacan Literario (2007), 1913: The cradle of modernism  (2007, Chinese translation 2013), The Ethic of the Lie (2008), Etant donnés: 1) l’art, 2) le crime  (2010). The Ghosts of Modernity has been republished in 2010. In 2013, he has edited A Handbook of Modernism Studies and a new French translation of Joyce's Exiles. Recent titles include Crimes of the Future (2014), The Cambridge Introduction to Literature and Psychoanalysis, The Pathos of Distance (2016); Think, Pig! Beckett at the limit of the human (2016), and Les Guerres de Derrida (2016).
</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> <HR></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<A HREF="#_ftnref1" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">[1]</A> Franz Kafka, Letters to Felice, trans. James Stern and Elisabeth Duckworth, New York, Schocken, 1973, p. 147. 
</DIV>
<DIV>
<A HREF="#_ftnref2" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="" DATA-MSYS-CLICKTRACK="0" REL="nofollow noopener noreferrer">[2]</A> Walter Benjamin, Feb. 4, 1939 letter to Scholem, Corrspondence of Walter Benjamin and Gershom Scholem 1932-1940, trans. Gary Smith and Andre Lefevere, Cambrisge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1992, p. 242.
</DIV>
</DIV>

Room 532, Main Building

Our {communityGuidelinesLink} describe the sort of content we prohibit on Eventbrite. If you suspect an event may be in violation, you can report it to us so we can investigate.

To report other categories of prohibited or illegal content, submit {link}

Masterclass 3: A Time to Laugh

More events from Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities

Follow organisers to get events picked for you

Still looking for the right event?

Explore all events in London and filter by date, category, and more to find the perfect fit.

Masterclass 3: A Time to Laugh

More events from Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities

Follow organisers to get events picked for you

You might also like...

Browse more events with different dates, prices, and formats to find your next great experience.

Still looking for the right event?

Explore all events in London and filter by date, category, and more to find the perfect fit.