Ego Development and the Comic1

The subject of my paper to-night does not form part of the series of exchange lectures between British and Viennese Societies—lectures which are devoted to clearing up controversial points in our methods and theories—and which to my mind are an institution which has already proved its importance. What I have to say is to a certain extent a survey of old and proved facts and theories of Psycho-Analysis, but I hope it will help on the good cause of strengthening a connexion to which we attach great importance in Vienna.

The psychology of the comic is certainly a field of knowledge which has been thoroughly covered, although when Freud first approached it he had at his disposal only the few basic principles of psycho-analysis, namely dynamic and topographical considerations. The whole wealth of psycho-analytical experience and the system which developed out of it has been used but seldom in this field, and then only for special problems, for instance by Freud himself when giving the metapsychological outline of humour, or by Reik when dealing with different kinds of wit.

The brevity of this exposé does not allow me to discuss his opinions, and the opinions of others who have contributed to the subject, and I shall have to leave out acknowledgments due to these authors. It would certainly be useful to complete our general conceptions of the comic by considering them in the light of metapsychology, but any serious attempt in this direction has led to new and somewhat unexpected difficulties. This paper is intended as an introduction to this greater task, but it remains in itself incomplete and is purposely one-sided. I shall confine it to the sphere of Ego-Psychology, but at the same time I shall keep genetic problems in mind.

Life gives us many different aspects of the comic, and it is linked up with various kinds of human activity. We may begin our classification by introducing a simple distinction. The comic which we find in life can clearly be distinguished from