Moliere (or a close associate) wrote: "The comic is the outward and visible form that nature's bounty has attached to everything unreasonable, so that we should see, and avoid, it. To know the comic we must know the rational, of which it denotes the absence and we must see wherein the rational consists . . . incongruity is the heart of the comic . . . it follows that all lying, disguise, cheating, dissimulation, all outward show different from the reality, all contradiction in fact between actions that proceed from a single source, all this is in essence comic."
On 3/14/08, Jim Devine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > it's possible that both authors were responding to the same reality. > > > On Fri, Mar 14, 2008 at 2:05 AM, soula avramidis > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > "And he began to think of really comical things everywhere, the whole town, > > the people walking in the streets, trying to look important, but he knew > > they couldnt fool him, he knew how important they were, and the way they > > talked, big business, and all of it pompous and fake, and it made him > laugh, > > and he thought of the preacher at the church, the fake way he prayed, O > God, > > it is your will, and nobody believing in prayers, and the important people > > with big automobiles, Cadillacs and Packards, speeding up and down the > > country, as if they had some place to go....and he was laughing at all the > > pathetic things in the world, the things good people cried upon... the > timid > > people being smashed inwardly by the fat and cruel people, fat inside... > > And then everything turned upside down, and he was crying, honest and truly > > crying, like a baby, as if something has really happened, and he hid his > > face in his arms, and his chest was heaving, and he was thinking he did not > > want to live...the whole world, in a mess. > > Then he began to cry again." > > > > Saroyan, William (1934). 'Laughter', Daring young man on the flying > trapeze: > > 191-200. > > ________________________________ > > Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it > > now. > > > _______________________________________________ > > pen-l mailing list > > [email protected] > > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > > > > > > > > > -- > Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own > way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > -- Sandwichman _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
