Witz, Witze (und Witz-Theorie)

Witz undercuts any rational and intelligent relation in and between words, in and between languages. Witze travel the (paralinguistic) no man's land between sense and non-sense. The most famous among all Witz-Theorien (written in German), by Sigmund Freud (1905) tries to reach out for the Unconscious as a region where Witz and Witze (probably) originate. The seminar will discuss, among others, texts by Friedrich Schlegel (Athenaeums-Fragmente), Jean Paul (Über den Witz; Leben des vergnügten Schulmeisterlein Maria Wutz in Auenthal); sketches and dialogues by German stand-up comedians (some of them in the form of audio- and video-clips) such as Karl Valentin, Heinz Erhardt, Loriot, and Badesalz; Sigmund Freud (Der Witz und seine Beziehung zum Unbewußten). –– Class taught in German.