As for humor as escape, I have always thought humor was the opposite. It is an attempt to deal with something that can't be hit dead on for whatever reason--emotion, politics, etc. Escapist humor might be considered light weight. Humor is quite serious. ;-) People who dismiss it lightly, miss the point. Mary Lou in Utica Vern Crisler wrote: > > At 09:32 AM 7/7/98 -0700, Gregg Camfield wrote: > >I thank John Bird for mentioning my _Sentimental Twain_ as I do, indeed > >recognize Twain as a thinker. But I've come to take my own thesis with a > >grain of salt after reading Bruce Michelson's _Mark Twain on the Loose_, > >which talks about humor as an escape, including an escape from the control > >and determination required of serious thinking. This is not to say that > >Twain's humor is not deep, nor to say that he wasn't a thinker, but only > >to suggest that his humor is often at odds with his thinking, at least as > >thinking is formally practiced. He tended to think seriously through > >satire, and to explore creatively--to escape thinking as his peers defined > >it--through humor. > > > > Gregg Camfield > > > > > > Interesting points made by most of those who've commented on this thread. I > should have defined "thinker" as (say) someone in the class of Aristotle, > Aquinas, Locke, Kant, Russell, Wittgenstein, Quine, et al. I can't really > think of any funny men who could be classed in this category, though > Jonathan Swift and Mark Twain probably come the closest. > > I also don't think current day "stand up" comics even approach the category > of being thinkers, so please folks, don't offer up Whoopi Goldberg or Robin > Williams as thinkers. I could rest my case on such example. (I sometimes > have a hard time understanding how any of these individuals can be classed > in the category of humorist. :-) > > In any case, I tend to agree that humor--like fiction--is an attempt to > escape, to escape the rationalistic fog of too much thinking for a breath of > the clean fresh down-to-earth air of living. That's why I often repair to > Mark Twain when I've gotten too far down into the blue water of > philosophical speculation. > > Cordially, > > Vern