Laughing Matters: Conversations on Humor (Regular Trade Paperback Edition)

{{{ REGULAR TRADE PAPERBACK EDITION ISBN-13: 978-1-938537-91-2 }}} Do you dig humor, comedy, critical theory, literary criticism, philosophy, television, and mass media studies all wrapped up together? Then LAUGHING MATTERS by Latino scholar/writers/artists ILAN STAVANS and FREDERICK ALDAMA is the book for you. Hyperbole Books first volume in the "Chatting Professors/ Catedráticos Charlando" mini-series, LAUGHING MATTERS finds two comedic scholars talking seriously about the ludicrous. Or are they speaking ludicrously about the serious? And does it matter which is which? -->Advance LAUGHING MATTERS raves: "Two academics go into a bar. . . and create one of the most compelling works on laughter since Bergson. In this kinetic tête-à-tête, Aldama and Stavans' conversation weaves effortlessly from the great thinkers on laughter to today's neurobiological insights to offer witty, wide-ranging, and incisive insights into our planet's great creations," says Peter McGraw, director of The Humor Research Lab (HuRL) --> "Our authors scour the world of humor from stand-up Jewish comedians to classic writers such as Cervantes and Rabelais to those, like Freud and Bergson, who have sought to account for why we laugh. The conversational format of this book allows its authors a freedom to range that would be impossible in a more conventional mode of discourse, " states Herbert Lindenberger, Avalon Foundation Professor of Humanities Emeritus, Stanford --> "A delightful and intellectually engaging conversation, Laughing Matters explores the nature of laughter and humor, questioning and expounding on Western European and Latin American literary works that build humor into their pages. In a decidedly erudite manner they take us on a journey through philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Bergson as well as literary geniuses such as Cervantes, Shakespeare, and Borges," affirms María Herrera-Sobek, Professor of Chicana/o Studies, UCSB