Caroline Schade Furchtbar amüsant – Schwarze Komik in deutscher, englischer und dänischer Kurzprosa nach 1945

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What makes a pig falling off a roof, exploding dogs and dramatic overpopulation funny? And is jumping off a cliff with migrating lemmings a good method to kill oneself as John Cleese implied? What is the black in black humour, and why can we laugh about it? This book answers these questions using literary analysis, starting with an overview of historic and influential theories of the comic and humour from Plato to Henri Bergson, Sigmund Freud and Robert Gernhardt. It includes a critical review of current theories of black comedy and black humour from which the author develops an independent theory of black comedy, aimed at application in literary studies.

After an outline of German, English and Danish theories of short prose, the author presents a considered comparative literary analysis for approaching the works of: E. W. Heine, Thomas Meinecke, Herbert Rosendorfer, Roald Dahl, Graham Greene, Helle Helle, Villy Sorensen and Peter Adolphsen.

Not only does this book offer an overview of theories of humour and the comic, as well as theories of black humour and black comedy, it also provides a new and proven theory of black comedy. Individual pieces of contemporary German, English and Danish shortprose are studied here for the very first time.

The author contributes to the clarification of the sometimes murky concept of black humour. The books comparative approach also opens up the way for further study of the phenomenon of black comedy in other literary genres and media.