Abstract
Theories Of Humour And Lâmi’î Çelebi’s Letâifnâme
Classical Turkish literature is exceptionally diverse in terms of content and genre. Numerous works have endured from this era, which encompasses many religious, political, and cultural facets of the Ottoman Empire. These works reflect the society of that time. Letâifnâmes are examples of such works. The term "latife" in Arabic, which refers to a comical story, joke or witticism, holds the same meaning as a joke in modern-day vocabulary.The key trait of these works, comprising comical, concise tales, is that they offer amusing and stimulating content. Furthermore, they deserve attention for capturing the humour prevailing in the era. In this study, "humour theories" provide the context to examine Letâifnâme by Lâmi'î Çelebi, which is amongst the first works that come to mind when discussing letâifnâme. Humour is a broad idea studied in various disciplines. Despite long-lasting efforts, the explanation of humour continues. This study initially explains the concept of humour and laughter, and their societal significance. This has led to the emergence of various well-known theories such as "superiority", "incompatibility", and "relaxation". This study initially explains the concept of humour and laughter, and their societal significance. In Lâmi'î Çelebi's Letâifnâme, jokes that match humour theories were discovered. The jokes were categorised and analysed by humour theory. The study found numerous jokes that were fitting for all three humour theories in Letâifnâme. Other examples from the work, beyond those examined, can be incorporated into the research. However, these were not part of the research to prevent redundancy and because numerous of these jokes are indecent. Humour theories are applied to the jokes in the work and the results are presented in a table with corresponding section and joke numbers.
Keywords
humor, theory, laugh, joke, Lâmi’î Çelebi, Letâifnâme.