French Literature Reviews - 2026
Érik Leborgne, L’Humour noir des Lumières
Literary Theory, Linguistics and Stylistics
Érik Leborgne,
L’Humour noir des Lumières
Paris, Classiques Garnier, coll. L'Europe des Lumières, 2018
EAN : 9782406058489 — 360 p. — 39.00 €
This study offers a Freudian-inspired reading and interpretation of the literary, stylistic, and psychological mechanisms of dark humor in 18th-century literature, ranging from Challe and Marivaux to Potocki's The Manuscript Found in Saragossa.
A review of this book can be read in Acta Fabula:
"Lumières noires", by Marc Hersant.
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Note on the Editions
Acknowledgments
Prologue: Dark Humor According to Freud, Diderot, and Casanova.
The Humorous Process According to Freud
Critical Reading of Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious (1905) and the Essay Humour (1927)
Economic Approach to the Reception of Witty and Humorous Remarks
Dynamic Approach to Humor
Extrapolations of Freudian Hypotheses on Humor
Analysis I - The Humorous Stance and Its Theatricality
Personnel and Spaces of Dark Humor
The Humorous Stance: Theory and Practice. Addison, Casanova, Voltaire, Rousseau, Stendhal
Reception of English Humor. Mme de Staël, Casanova, Voltaire
Theatricality of Dark Humor: Condemned Prisoners, Thieves, Pícaros
Humor and Men in Black: Priests, Executioners, Physicians, Scholars
Executioners, Prison, Torture: Dark Humor and Force. Diderot, Casanova, Sade, Voltaire
Analysis II - Dark Humor, Polyphony, and Phantasy
Humor and the Reading of Phantasy: Freudian Methodology
Distant Perspectives on the Tragic: Lesage, Rozelli, Prévost
Grotesque and Sinister Humorists: Prévost, Diderot
Death Wishes and Denial: Casanova, Challe, Marivaux, Diderot
Combined Effects of Galgenhumor and the Unheimliche: Challe, Mouhy, Potocki, Casanova
Synthesis: An Anthropological Reading of Dark Humor
Dark Humor and the Ego Ideal
Humor and Childhood
Bettine, or the Primal Scene of Humor (Histoire de ma vie)
Bisexuality of the Superego and Feminine Humor
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index of Names
The study of humor in the 18th century often intersects with the broader intellectual history of the Enlightenment, a period characterized by a tension between rational inquiry and the exploration of darker, irrational impulses. Érik Leborgne's L’Humour noir des Lumières (2018) examines the literary, stylistic, and psychological mechanisms of dark humor in 18th-century literature, ranging from Challe and Marivaux to Potocki's The Manuscript Found in Saragossa. The book utilizes a Freudian-inspired framework to analyze the humorous stance, theatricality, and the role of the unconscious in the works of various authors of the period.
The text applies Freudian concepts to investigate the psychological dimensions of the humorous stance and the theatricality of dark humor, including its manifestation in figures such as priests and executioners. The analysis explores the intersection of social power, individual fantasy, and the use of polyphony and the uncanny to navigate the tragic and the grotesque. Readers interested in the intersection of psychoanalytic theory and 18th-century narrative prose may find this exploration of the humorous process relevant.