About this item
Highlights
- A god and a fool walk into a bar... In Holy Fools and Funny Gods, philosopher and cartoonist Izar Lunacek explores the surprising intersections between religion and comedy.
- Author(s): Izar Lunacek
- Literary Criticism, Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology
Description
Book Synopsis
A god and a fool walk into a bar...
In Holy Fools and Funny Gods, philosopher and cartoonist Izar Lunacek explores the surprising intersections between religion and comedy. Many view religion as a monument to eternal truth. Comedy, on the other hand, is the eternal iconoclast. This conflict between jokers and the faithful frequently marks our present-day culture.
But in pre-Christian times, pagan pantheons included holy clowns precariously positioned at the right side of the main deity. Among many tributes paid to gods, at least one ritual was reserved for the trickster who destroyed the world order only to rebuild it refreshed and new.
What if the priest and the jester are enemies only because they are siblings? What if they are two sides of the same social taboos? When we put gods on pedestals, we also expose them to communal mockery. When we laugh at clowns, we worship their disregard for social convention.
Lunacek's Holy Fools and Funny Gods skillfully blends philosophy with the irreverence of the comics medium into a treatise that is both hilarious and profound.
Review Quotes
Praise for Animal Noir:
"Dense and unapologetic, Animal Noir is devious, very allegorical, scandalous, and really creeps into the back of your mind for hours later. It seeps into it with ease, like water into a sponge, and saturates your brain." - Fanboy Factor