The Jokes of Sigmund Freud: A Study in Humor and Jewish Identity

168 Pages·2007·8.073 MB·English

by  Elliott Oring

THE JOKES OF
SIGMUND
FREUD

THE JOKES OF
SIGMUND
FREUD
A
STUDY IN HUMOR
AND jEWISH IDENTITY
ELLIOTT ORING
A JASON ARONSON BOOK
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
A JASON ARONSON BOOK
ROWMAN & LITILEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing
Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.rowmanlittlefield.com
Estover Road
Plymouth PL6 7PY
United Kingdom
Copyright © 1997 by Elliott Oring
First Rowman & Littlefield edition 2007
The author gratefully acknowledges permission to use the following:
Nathan the Wise, by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. Translated by Bayard
Quincy Morgan. Copyright© 1972 Continuum Publishing. Used with
permission of the publisher.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without
the prior permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Oring, Elliott, 1945-
The jokes of Sigmund Freud : a study in humor and Jewish identity
I Elliott Oring.
p. em.
Originally published : Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania
Press, c1984.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7657-0429-0 (pbk.: alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-7657-0429-3 (pbk.: alk. paper)
l.Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939-Humor. 2. Psychoanalysts
Austria-Biography. 3. Jewish wit and humor-History and criticism.
I. Title
BF173.F85066 1997
150.19'52'092-dc21 96-37012
ePr,.i.n.t ed in the United States of America
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-
1992.
For Mark, Katie, and Claire

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
1 Jokes and Freud 1
2 The Schnorrer 13
3 The Schadchen 27
4 The Ostjude 42
5 Fahrenheit 52
6 The Klick 79
7 The Egyptian Moses 91
8 The Complex 102
9 The Sublimation 119
Abbreviations 124
Notes 125
Bibliography 142
Index 149

Aclmowledgments
There are many contributors to a project such as this whose names
do not appear in the notes or bibliography. Arthur Niehoff, Renee
Oring, Kenneth Pratt, Judith Terzi, and Donald Ward read substantial
portions of the manuscript and offered both suggestions and encour
agement. Donald Ward also tolerated numerous telephone inquiries
concerning German philology and folklore despite the interruption of
his quiet Sunday afternoons when he had better things to do. Michaela
Lang and Clement Padick shared their expertise on the German lan·
guage and Viennese custom.
I am happy to thank friends, relations, and colleagues who offered
intellectual and moral support: Mahadev Apte and )udit Katona-Apte,
Sharon Bassett, Brenda E. F. Beck, Dan Ben-Amos, Foley Benson,
Erika Brady, Frank de Caro, lnta Carpenter, Larry and Kerstin
Danielson, Christie Davies, Robert and Mary Georges, Bruce and Gen
Giuliano, Henry Glassie, Sin Fong Han, Larry and julie Hordes,
William lvey, Michael and Jane Jones, Rosan Jordan, Lawrence and
Dorothy Levinson, Irving Levinson, Carol Mitchell, Jon and Natalie
Olson, Mark Oring, Marjory Power, Neil and Judyann Rabitoy, Victor
Raskin, John Rees, Gloria and Fred Reinman, Taffe Semenza, Dianne
Smith, and Barre Toelken.
My friend Norman Klein was always enthusiastic about my ideas for
this book, and I will hold him to his promise to read the monograph
sometime before his retirement. Finally, Benjamin Fass, who gave me a
complete set of The Standard Edition for one of my birthdays, was the
sole private underwriter of this project.
ix