Originally published in 1949 this book is a study of comedy based on representative works of drama and narrative, mainly in English, from Chaucer to Bernard Shaw. The theme is that comedy implies a philosophy of life that is fairly constant, despite the changes in social conditions and fashions of thought. There is a bibliographical index and the book is illustrated fully and widely by quotations from English comic writers.

Originally published in 1949 this book is a study of comedy based on representative works of drama and narrative, mainly in English, from Chaucer to Bernard Shaw. The theme is that comedy implies a philosophy of life that is fairly constant, despite the changes in social conditions and fashions of thought. There is a bibliographical index and the book is illustrated fully and widely by quotations from English comic writers.