This volume consists of a selection of the papers given at a major conference, The Anatomy of Laughter/Traduire le Rire, held in September 2001. It focuses on the latter aspect of observations of the situations in which laughter is expressed, and stresses the acoustic features of laughter.
The selected essays in this volume explore the conditions governing the production and survival of laughter. The visual arts, including both painting and film, and the different linguistic and literary traditions prove highly fruitful areas of investigation. The stage, with its innately interactive character, poses particularly interesting questions in the field of translation.
