Dec 31, 2014
Laughter agitates the whole system and can be a violently tonic exercise. When we think about the spectacle of hearty, helpless laughter objectively, we see that it can throw us too (normally sober readers, listeners, spectators) into strangely grotesque pantomimic behavior: involuntarily we start heaving and spluttering, and emitting cackling or braying sounds. Something is tugging us out of everyday sobriety and we become momentarily, apparently, intoxicated. The tugging comes from Dickens's insistent, energetic engagement of us as readers; he is putting on as how and we have to join in.
Dickensian Laughter, Malcolm Andrews
