CSLC 285 Impolitic Bodies: A Comedic History

There has been no shortage of disciplines and institutions that have sought to convince us that we interact with our world primarily through our minds. But one form of literature, at least, has always known otherwise. For no matter what philosophy, religion, ethics, or the law try to tell us, comedy will never let us forget that we exist, in this world at least, in and through our bodies. The bodies of comedy, however, unlike the bodies of science, art, or athletics, are neither orderly, nor inspiring, nor ideal. The comedic body is unruly, excessive, needy, offensive—in a word, impolite. What is special about comedy, however, as this class will endeavor to show, is that it encourages us not to despair over our shared condition of gross embodiment, but rather to unite ourselves around it. Comedy creates community from the shared experience of our bodies— from our corpulent, crapulent, concupiscent corporeality. Having no interest in the maintenance of an ideal "body politic," comedy rejoices in the humble togetherness of a "body impolitic." Though this course will aim to establish a history of comedy from the ancient Greeks and Romans to the Medieval, Renaissance, and Restoration eras (and beyond), it will also make constant reference to modern comedic phenomena; the sit-com, the rom-com, the stand-up, the parody, and the roast—to name but a few.