The Meaning of the Comic.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 13, 23 December 1911, Page 13

The Meaning of the Comic.

A Philosopher cn Laughter.

Tho following interesting review appears in "The Times'' oil "Laughter: .An essay on the Meaning of tho Comic, by Henri Hereon. Aul horised transla-iii-n by Cloiirlesley Brorcloix and l'red Rothwell, 8.A.": -

It. is pleasant to sec a philosopher turning from ultimate questions and stopping to listen to tho laughter of men: nor to listen merely, but io track out tlie elusive spirit, "tne passion that ham no name") and this not in abstruse l*sycl!oli>»icaL regions, but witn a gianco ranging over tho whole social comedy . and a living interest in art. This pain is strewn with dangers, but the philoso- ' pher will not tread it unless ho has inheriled a portion of til/.' comic spirit. Even so, how shall he imprison in words tho least tangible ol human things? 1): pnyone could achieve it it should bo . Professor Bergson, whose writings, if wo may speak unphilo<-ophiealiy, are one ■ continuous protest against tho lifeless and. tho dull. This translation o£ "lie Eire" • i forms (he most suggestivo contribution i to a study of the comic spirit that has apiicared in English since Meredith's famous essay. Tho two, though not covering exactly the same field, invite comparison; and to rod them together is an exercise both profitable and charming. When wo begin - talking of -laughter wo. quickly find ourselves talking of tho comic, and that is exactly what Professor Bergson does. Whether his method is adequate to the whole subiect. or -, whether it may not result in inverting, as it: were, the two themes which form (he title and sub-title of the book, is a question which suggests it-self, but is best: postponed till we have teen his conclusions, Ue_ starts with three guiding, principles. lieu we laugh it is always at some human characteristics, expressed the other emotions are in. abeyance; and laughter has a, sociail background—the laughter is, by implication, one of a group. The Comic Personage. But what is it wo laugh at? Take thn crudest eases. such as the victim of a practical joke, or comic ugliness, as in a face which seems to be always blowing an imaginary trumpet. Here thn laughahle, according lo Profe,-«or. Bergson, lies ill the mechanical rigidity (raident) or absent-mindedness (distraction) of the subject. The victim of_ dm joker has gone mechanically on liis way, and. through lack of suppleness, is brought to confusion. Tho comic physiognomy suggests an automatic habit in which its owner is fur ever absorbed. In each ca;o there, has been a victory of matter over mind; the comic personage seems to be ouo who has let his attention wander or has been hypnotised by a mechanical action; and society, demanding from its members a continuous elasticity and at' tention, recalls him to his place with tho simple castigation of a laugh. This formula of tho comic as mechanical and laughter as corrective, Professor Bergson proceeds to apply cleverly to comedy in word, situation,- and character, with the caution that it is. not so much * definition as a, "leitmotiv." Thcro -isa great deal in the comic stage to sup- - port this idea. - Life is really continuous; we ca.li neither repeat it nor invert, it. But the comic writer behaves asif wo could, and by the simplest trick* he will turn life into a mechanism which can repeat, reverse, or upset itself. l!c--' petition is one of the commonest cf the.'o artifices, and Moliere employs it. nakixll? ' in the well-known scene between 1 Orgon and Dorine in the first act of "Tartufi'e." But how. irresistible is " the effect, even when we road tho sceno to ourselves! As Orgon returns to the charge with his eternal question, '."Kt ; . Tartiil'e!-" aud hi.s eternal comment; "j.ft pain-re hommc!"; as Doriniß flies- out each time liko a Jack-in-a-Box with war- ; liculars of Madame, the image of these, two delightful - puppets grows upon ii'ir' vision, the muscles rclnx, the smile broadens into a laugh, and—Molicro has succeeded in his "entreprise do fairs rirQ les honnetes gens." In his chanter on the comic in character, Professor Bergson publics his analysis deeper, and this part of the essay is specially to !» commended lo those %ho would gel; to t.ho bottom ,of his thought. Suggestive in particular is his comparison between comic. absurdity and the absurdity of dreams. - The presumption is still that the comic is the "distrait." who is following up a fixed, idea that will eventually lead him outside both society and reason. "Always Joy." Why is it that we leave this book, thoughtful aud alluring, wiih a certain feeling uf depression!' Tor that is the fact. Probably it is because of tho insistence on laughter as n moans of social chastisement. lit vain Professor Bergsen reasons with us; wo cannot bring oi.rsolvcs to take a view so psna). or lo obscure that other characteristic, of tho laugh—enjoyment without anierc peiisee. To say this is not to ignore tho social virtue of laughlcr, or (o deny that it iq comedy's business to play lightly ovr folly and conceit, bringing men bark to (he lovel where a sane ami spiritual c-'jm-mon seiii'e would keep tlieni. But laughter is not simply a creation of society, for it can stand oul.sido and criticise society itself. What Professor Bergson has done is to give us a wonderfully searyhing analysis of the comic. The title cf the essay is rather misleading. He lu\:-- :wt investigated laughter sn much as llm laughable.' But there is n qm-lity in laughter. It can be unti-sei ial with Heine; poetic in Arislonhanes ;i:nl Shakespeare. ft is always "m> divorcrd emotion as l'rofe>Mir Bergson suppose*? We return to H'obbes, wlion' :-ent' , iK 1 B have the excellent quality of being iisel'iil in ways not. intended by their author. Laughter, he s!>ys, ''is u!we;,s joy": and then he goes on to the welt-ren-.embcrcd phras? that, "'he, pasMon of laughter :? nothing else but sudden glory aris.ng from some sudden conception of some eminciicy in ourselves, by comparison with the infirmity of others, or with cur own formerly." A sudden heightening o! our sense of life, not to .the detriment of others—this surely is a vital element, ill laughter. In the end if ,is hard lo say more about: it than that it "always joy." It is pleasanter. to b.'-ft leave "of Professor Bergson on a point of agreement tha.u on a point ot diiTorei'-T, and so attention may bn drawn lo the line passage on art wlii- 1 li -lills pp. 1 *>0-161 cf the translation. Quotation would oniy manHe it : but lie has written nothing , better. This oasse.ge has been very w» t rendered in the translation. v;hich opears, indeed, udeurale and lianpy thron .n----on I the essay. Mr. Bi-ereton's name u guarantee of good woikniansliip, and I'' fossni' Bergson lias himsoll reMsed he book in detail. Those who heard (hv, 1 little sncccli in English which lie m:"i" .ifter his la»t leclurc in 1/ondon d" no!, need to be told that he is, when h* cliwae;. a master of our language.