Note 22 to Chapter 1 of the author's Dickens and the Rhetoric of Laughter which Clarendon Press published in 1972. It has been included in the Victorian Web with the kind permission of the author and of the Clarendon Press, which retains copyright.
In order to avoid a profusion of terminology, I shall use "comedy" as a reference to the genre and its values only and not as a synonym for anything funny. The general term used here for anything evoking amusement will be "humour". It is true that Freud used this term with very special meaning; when the restricted meaning is intended, Freud's name will be introduced.
Last modified: 1 May 2001