John Marmysz 
Laughing at Nothing [PDF ebook] 
Humor as a Response to Nihilism

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Problem of Nihilism

PART I: Scrutinizing Nihilism

1. German and Russian Nihilism

German Nihilism
Russian Nihilism

2. Nietzschean Nihilism

The Christian, the Anarchist, and Socrates
Apollo and Dionysus
Healthy Culture and the Well-Ordered Society
Ascent, Decline, and the Eternal Return of the Same
Heidegger and Nietzsche

3. World-War and Postwar Nihilism

The National Socialists
Camus and the Existentialists
Yukio Mishima and Asian Nihilism
Nihilism in America

4. Nihilistic Incongruity

The Descriptive, Normative, and Fatalistic Premises of Nihilism
The Historical Complication
Pyrrho, Stirner, Rorty, and Skeptical Pragmatism

PART II: Decline, Ascent, and Humor

5. Decline, Decay, and Falling Away

6. Ambition, Aspiration, and Ascent

7. Humor and Incongruity

Jokes
Comedy
Humor

Conclusion: Humor as a Response to Nihilism

Postscript

Notes

Bibliography

Index