Kierkegaard and the Legitimacy of the Comic: Understanding the Relevance of Irony, Humor, and the Comic for Ethics and Religion

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While some see the comic as trivial, fit mainly for amusement or distraction, Sren Kierkegaard disagrees. This book examines Kierkegaards earnest understanding of the nature of the comic and how even the triviality of comic jest is deeply tied to ethics and religion. It rigorously explicates terms such as irony, humor, jest, and comic in Kierkegaard, revealing them to be essential to his philosophical and theological program, beyond aesthetic interest alone.

Drawing centrally from Kierkegaards most concentrated treatment of these ideas, Concluding Unscientific Postscript (1846), this account argues that he defines the comic as a contradiction or misrelation that is essentially (though not absolutely) painless because it provides a way out. The comic lies in a contradiction between norms and so springs from ones viewpoint, whether ethical or religious.

Irony and humor play essential transitional roles for Kierkegaards famous account of the stages of existence because subjective development is closely tied to ones capacity to perceive the comic, making the comic both diagnostic of and formative for ones subjective maturity. For Kierkegaard, the Christian is far from humorless, instead having the maximal comic perception because he has the highest possible subjective development.

The book demonstrates that the comic is not the expression of a particular pseudonym or of a single period in Kierkegaards thinking but is an abiding and fundamental concept for him. It finds his comic understanding even outside of Postscript, locating it in such differing works as Prefaces (1844), Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits (1847), and the Corsair affair (c.1845-1848).

The book also examines the comic in contemporary Kierkegaard scholarship. First, it argues that Deconstructionists, while accurately perceiving the widespread irony in Kierkegaards corpus, incorrectly take the irony to imply a lack of earnest interest in philosophy and theology, misunderstanding Kierkegaard on the nature of irony. Second, it considers two theological readings to argue that their positions, while generally preferable to the Deconstructionists, lack the same attentiveness to the comics role in Kierkegaard. Their significant theological arguments would be strengthened by increased appreciation of the legitimate power of the comic for cultivating ethics and religion.

Reviews

Williams's volume is much more than a monograph about Kierkegaards understanding of the comic; it is a springboard to the exploration of the importance of the comic in theology and the life of faith. Williams cogently argues that in Kierkegaards pages the comic is exceedingly earnest business. Theologians have often have obscured Kierkegaards use of the comic by focusing on his overtly religious earnestness, while deconstructionists have ignored his earnestness by concentrating on his playful and seemingly indeterminate literary tropes. But, as Williams shows, far from being opposites, earnestness and the comic require one another. Kierkegaard uses the comic to expose unrecognized contradictions between worldly, ethical, and Christian norms, and to sensitize readers to the incommensurability of inner aspirations and outward performance. By doing so, the comic weans us away from worldliness and edges us close to humility and repentance. We must thank Williams for reminding us that learning to laugh wisely is crucial to our religious formation.

-- Lee Barrett, Henry and Mary Stager Professor of Theology, Lancaster Theological Seminary
Will Williams's Kierkegaard and The Legitimacy of the Comic is clear, comprehensive, replete with compelling examples, and rigorously argued. And yet, like Kierkegaard, who maintained that humor and seriousness go hand-in-hand, Williams is able to leaven his convincing interpretive work with a light touch of humor. A scholarly work that is a delight to read is something of a rarity, and so is this book. -- Gordon Marino, St. Olaf College
In this ambitious text, Williams boldly makes the case that the comic is no passing fancy in Kierkegaards thought; he masterfully demonstrates that it is a concept consistently employed both diagnostically and constructively in the service of cultivating ethical and religious existence. In short, this is a book that profoundly illuminates Kierkegaards thought and, at the same time, so much about the world today. -- Paul Martens, Baylor University

Author Bio

Will Williams is lecturer at Baylor University