Word: laughter
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...speak and make himself noticed, he always blurted out some inane remark that set women on edge. His high-strung nature made him good at whipping through economics problem sets, but his inability to have a simple good time with people did not endear him to many. His laughter was forced and his jumpiness scared people off. He was especially self-concious around women, so he was even more jumpy around them, and they gave him an extra wide berth...
...Walter heard from over a green hill the high-pitched sound of women's laughter and the insistent beat of an old Rolling Stones record. It spurred them on; they were in the right place. Walter started to climb the fence. When he reached the top one pant leg caught on a sharp point of metal. Just then a car drove by on the adjacent road. Its headlights caught poor Walter on the top of the fence struggling to get free. The light scared him. He jumped down inside the fence, ripping a large hole in his trouser cuff...
Once inside they started to search for the party. They followed the sounds of laughter and music, and after a few false tries at the wrong buildings, they tracked down the affair that had been advertised in the Union. The cars parked outside told them there were not many inside who had come by the MBTA. Walter checked his hair and made sure his Harvard shirt was straight under his Harvard jacket. Then the two stepped into the party...
...Giordano Bruno barks, maestro-fashion, at the beginning of this piece, Tragedy taken too seriously becomes Farce, and forced Farce is Tragedy. Real laughter is indiscriminate in its intuitive understanding of the irrational, as well as its recognition of the ubiquity of absurdity. How then can the Lampoon take itself seriously? One might as well ask how a harpoon can harpoon itself...
...fact, a lawyer. He plays the cosmic straight man to Allen's cosmic nihilism. But Allen is no longer a pure nihilist; he is using this nihilism to affirm himself. Kierkegaard chose the story of Abraham to illustrate this metamorphosis: Abraham must sacrifice his son, Isaac (whose name means "laughter"), to fulfill an unknown Being's absurd and meaningless request...