THE JOKES OF SIGMUND FREUD THE JOKES OF SIGMUND FREUD A STUDY IN HUMOR AND jEWISH IDENTITY ELLIOTT ORING A JASON ARONSON BOOK ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK A JASON ARONSON BOOK ROWMAN & LITILEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Published in the United States of America by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.rowmanlittlefield.com Estover Road Plymouth PL6 7PY United Kingdom Copyright © 1997 by Elliott Oring First Rowman & Littlefield edition 2007 The author gratefully acknowledges permission to use the following: Nathan the Wise, by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. Translated by Bayard Quincy Morgan. Copyright© 1972 Continuum Publishing. Used with permission of the publisher. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Oring, Elliott, 1945- The jokes of Sigmund Freud : a study in humor and Jewish identity I Elliott Oring. p. em. Originally published : Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, c1984. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-7657-0429-0 (pbk.: alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-7657-0429-3 (pbk.: alk. paper) l.Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939-Humor. 2. Psychoanalysts Austria-Biography. 3. Jewish wit and humor-History and criticism. I. Title BF173.F85066 1997 150.19'52'092-dc21 96-37012 ePr,.i.n.t ed in the United States of America The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48- 1992. For Mark, Katie, and Claire Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction xi 1 Jokes and Freud 1 2 The Schnorrer 13 3 The Schadchen 27 4 The Ostjude 42 5 Fahrenheit 52 6 The Klick 79 7 The Egyptian Moses 91 8 The Complex 102 9 The Sublimation 119 Abbreviations 124 Notes 125 Bibliography 142 Index 149 Aclmowledgments There are many contributors to a project such as this whose names do not appear in the notes or bibliography. Arthur Niehoff, Renee Oring, Kenneth Pratt, Judith Terzi, and Donald Ward read substantial portions of the manuscript and offered both suggestions and encour agement. Donald Ward also tolerated numerous telephone inquiries concerning German philology and folklore despite the interruption of his quiet Sunday afternoons when he had better things to do. Michaela Lang and Clement Padick shared their expertise on the German lan· guage and Viennese custom. I am happy to thank friends, relations, and colleagues who offered intellectual and moral support: Mahadev Apte and )udit Katona-Apte, Sharon Bassett, Brenda E. F. Beck, Dan Ben-Amos, Foley Benson, Erika Brady, Frank de Caro, lnta Carpenter, Larry and Kerstin Danielson, Christie Davies, Robert and Mary Georges, Bruce and Gen Giuliano, Henry Glassie, Sin Fong Han, Larry and julie Hordes, William lvey, Michael and Jane Jones, Rosan Jordan, Lawrence and Dorothy Levinson, Irving Levinson, Carol Mitchell, Jon and Natalie Olson, Mark Oring, Marjory Power, Neil and Judyann Rabitoy, Victor Raskin, John Rees, Gloria and Fred Reinman, Taffe Semenza, Dianne Smith, and Barre Toelken. My friend Norman Klein was always enthusiastic about my ideas for this book, and I will hold him to his promise to read the monograph sometime before his retirement. Finally, Benjamin Fass, who gave me a complete set of The Standard Edition for one of my birthdays, was the sole private underwriter of this project. ix