LAUGHTER AND LAUGH OFF With Notes on Nietzsche, Heine and Kafka

According to the theories of Kant, Jean Paul and Nietzsche, laughter can be derived from incongruities perceived by the senses, from the gap between High and Low. Proceeding from this premise, the article explores laughter -provoking texts by Heine ("Der Rabbi von Bacherach") and Kafka ("EM Bericht fur eine Akademie"). It focuses in particular on the bodily expression of laughter, and, at the same time, examines sociocultural contingencies: who is laughing, when, and at whom? And further: why has laughter always been as celebrated as it has been forbidden? In sociological terms laughter can occur in both directions: both from the bottom up and from the top down.