Guillin, V. (2018). Savoir rire entre les lignes : matérialisme médical et « hiéropsychologie » dans la Revue de l'hypnotisme (1887-1910). Bulletin canadien d'histoire de la médecine, 35(2), 383-412.
Laughter played a crucial strategic role in the fight against clericalism and religion in France during the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. The cultural output from this polemical use of laughter is contrasted with a “scholarly literature,” which fought against religion in a radically different manner that featured reason facing obscurantism and prejudice. Drawing on a study of the contributions dealing with “the psychology of religion” or “hieropsychology” published in the Revue de l’hypnotisme, I will try to show that there also exists a “scholarly ridicule,” the forms, codes, and uses of which are characteristic of the anticlerical laughter associated with “medical materialism.”
This content has been updated on 12 July 2019 at 11 h 21 min.