Brzozowska, Dorota

Chłopicki, Władysław

Tsakona, Villy

European Journal of Humour Research

English

Jagiellonian Univeristy Repository

European Journal ofHumour Research 5 (4) 1–2www.europeanjournalofhumour.orgFrom the Editors of the European Journal ofHumour ResearchDorota BrzozowskaOpole Universitydbrzozowska@uni.opole.plWładysław ChłopickiJagiellonian Universityw.chlopicki@uj.edu.plVilly TsakonaNational and Kapodistrian University of Athensvillytsa@otenet.grAs in early 2017 our journal was entering its fifth year, we planned a special issue dedicated tothe life and achievements of the renowned humour researcher, Professor Emeritus of ReadingUniversity in the United Kingdom, Christie Davies. The initiative had come from ProfessorGiselinde Kuipers of Amsterdam University, a former editor of our partner Humor:International Journal of Humor Research, and Professor Delia Chiaro, the current President ofthe International Society of Humor Studies, and we enthusiastically accepted their plan andasked them to be Guest Editors of the issue. For Christie Davies was someone quite specialand unique both for all of us personally and for the European Journal of Humour Research andhumour scholarship at large. He was a contributor to the journal as well as a reviewer of manyin-coming contributions – the last review we received from him was in June 2017, in which herecommended to the author a comparative approach, and commented succinctly: “Revise alot!”Indeed he was a great scholar, mentor, and friend, keen to encourage younger scholars todevelop their thinking with precision, be critical and bravely take into account all the relevantfacts, especially social facts, even though they did not match their a priori assumptions, eventhough they were socially dodgy (a favourite word of Christie’s – see his reprinted article inthe present issue for all kind of “social dodginess” he pursued in his research). In fact, this washis central message in his memorable speech he delivered upon receiving the HonoraryDoctorate of the University of Galaţi in Romania on 8 November 2012. Memorably, whilethere he also encouraged Professor Diana Popa, to continue her efforts to start the EuropeanJournal of Humour Research – and indeed it was launched three months later and hascontinued ever since.European Journal of Humour Research X (X)Open-access journal | www.europeanjournalofhumour.org2Viaţa liberã online (https://www.viata-libera.ro/educatie/36048-viata-libera-galati-complexul-muzeal-stiintele-naturii-senat-universitate-doctor-honoris-causa-profesor-britanic-christie-davies). See Professor Diana Popa, the founder of our journal (taking the picture)At the same time he was a lovable eccentric, given to practical jokes andimpersonations intended to reveal his interlocutors’ true, though concealed, opinions – forexample, he would never deny he was Jewish, which people sometimes took him to be due tohis bearded appearance and excellent awareness of everything Jewish, just in order to use theinevitable ethnic mix-up for its comic potential. He would also go to great lengths to adoptviews he never held or refer to facts that were never to be, such as in the famous spoof articleadvocating the resettlement of the Hong Kong population into Northern Ireland, published in1983 (see http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33361999), in order to stir uneasiness, provokelaughter or sometimes reveal a poor sense of humour or ethnic prejudices of important people.Nobody, we dare say, had such vast knowledge of, and fascination over, ethnic humour. Hecould easily adjust his research to the ethnic identities of his audience: his talks in innumerouscountries around the globe often examined ethnic humour emerging and circulated in that partof the world. He also practiced what he preached – that ethnic humour is the most efficient andappealing way of evoking laughter, and believed – in agreement with his essentiallyconservative agenda – that attempts of curbing it by political correctness are futile andgroundless as humour in its essence is not aggressive, but playful. Furthermore, with hiswritings he passionately highlighted and defended the positive aspects of humour, which wasimportant for gradually promoting the international acceptance of humour as an object ofserious academic study. Not everyone knows that he was the first humour scholar whomanaged to institute and run an M.A. programme in Humour Studies (at Reading University inthe 1990s).Sadly, Christie’s health deteriorated much more rapidly than anyone could predict, andon Saturday morning of 26 August 2017 the bad news came from the Reading hospital that hehad departed for the better world. The present issue then, very much contrary to our intentions,turned into an in memoriam issue. The Guest Editors worked rapidly, eager to deliver thepromise made to Christie that this issue would be published soon in his honour, and managedto collect a fine selection of articles from top humour scholars literally from across the globe,from the United States to Australia, and of course from Europe.Christie Davies, an extraordinary thinker of unmatched versatility and erudition and aninterested and tolerant listener, will be greatly missed at our humour conferences, but we dohope that his work, convictions and influence will live on, not least due to the present specialissue suitably titled – “Playing with Aggression”.With our gratitude to the Guest Editors, we invite you to read the issue through and beinspired…

From the editors of the European Journal of Humour Research

https://ruj.uj.edu.pl/xmlui/bitstream/handle/item/49633/brzozowska_chlopicki_tsakona_from_the_editors_2017.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

From the editors of the European Journal of Humour Research

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