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I always thought my mother was smarter than she let on. She had me read "the rationale of the dirty joke" when I was in my early teens. She told me not to read the jokes so much, but also what was written about the jokes in between. The book/s we had, two by the same name (vol 1 & vol 2)) taught the psychology of why people laugh at 'dirty' jokes. It's armed me in life with an understanding of humour, and the core of humour within us; why we laugh. I can no longer locate my copies, but like the earlier post, I wouldn't sell them for any money if I could find them.
2 A Bargain at any Price
This book and its companion volume No Laughing Matter (actually a set of two) have been out of print for some time, and I cannot begin to understand why. Even with all of the opportunities for sale on the Internet, I would not part with my copies for a thousand dollars. Since the works are a pair, I will add what I wrote on the companion volume, which is equally applicable here.
Do you have a compelling interest in Freudian or Jungian analyses of vulgar humor? If so this is the book for you. If not, don't stop yet. Do you simply like dirty jokes? This may be for you too, but will probably be a bit on the esoteric expensive side. Do you have a cultural or literary interest in the development and similarity of dirty joke themes around the western world and throughout history? If so, these are (there are 2 volumes) absolutely the resource that you can't do without. Both your sense of humor and higher instincts for the scholarly will be amply rewarded. Additionally, if you have the warped or puerile sense of entertainment by the irony of juxtaposing the elevated with the profane, Legman will become your favorite author. One caution: if you have some sensitivity about the coarse and obscene, limit yourself to the first volume. The second moves more into the areas of sexual perversion and body function humor and accordingly is less suited to delicate sensitivities....
3 i amazed
I picked up the dirty old thumbed copy from a salvalion army op shop for 30 cents. It looked like all the pages were bent but they had been carfully turned over to mark some of the jokes many years before. I started reading. It was not just a collection of jokes but a beautifully researched and systematic approach. It is to jokes what the oxford dictionary is to the language. It suprising the change since it was written as amongst my friends many of the jokes are not well known and clearly others have technological adaptation. the suprising issue is how things have changed culturally since it was written. One wonders if menstral jokes for example are shared within lesbian social groups that would be taboo in other company or if the degree of ethnic jokes that are no longer promulgated in polite company have their early source listed here. If the porice was right I would like copies for my friends
4 Classic
I first read this book in college in the early 70's and thoroughly enjoyed this and the 2nd volume for both their literary and scatalogical merit. I just read that Gershon Legman died on Feb 23, 1999 at age 81 at a hospital near his home in Opio, France. Nice obit in NYT, Sunday 3/14/99.
I hope his scholarship and fight against censorship will motivate some publisher to re-issue these two classics.
5 In Case You Were Wondering Why Those Dirty Jokes Are Funny..
Proof that academicians can turn any subject into a scholarly study; Legman, an anthropologist, catalogs dirty jokes by type, then traces their history back to ancient folklore, explaining the sources, variations and history. This is a book that works on two levels; if you're really interested in learning that farmer's daughter jokes have a precedent in 12th Century literature, then you won't be disappointed. On the other hand, if you just want to read the good parts and skip the analysis, the book's format makes that easy to do, too. It's unfortunate that both volumes of the "Rationale" are out of print, because they belong in the collection of anyone who's interested in the "more things change the more they stay the same" theory of history, as well as those who just want good jokes to tell people around the water cooler or via email.
6 Positively Amazing
Looking for a rather illuminating, analytical, and yet completely fun read on the background and psyche behind dirty jokes? Don't even think about not reading this book. Legman's categorization and insight is beyond interesting. It's great.