CONWAY — Brooklyn-based author Jonathan Safran Foer once said in an interview that he’s not very funny. He corrected himself Nov. 28 when he presented a lecture titled “Why Jews Laugh at Things That Aren’t Funny,” as part of the Hendrix-Murphy Foundation Programs in Literature and Language annual series.
“In fact, I’m extraordinarily funny,” Foer said at the beginning of his lecture.
Foer’s two novels, Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, have won him acclaim among critics and fans alike. His latest book, Eating Animals, explores organic farming and veganism.
But during his lecture at Hendrix, Foer discussed his own Jewish background and comedy.
Comedy is the theme of this year’s Murphy Foundation series.
“We have an annual theme each year,” Murphy Center Director Henryetta Vanaman said. “We usually partner with the English department and the theater department and other groups on campus to sponsor events like this.”
Foer’s lecture was cosponsored by the Crain-Maling Center of Jewish Culture, an organization for Jewish students at Hendrix College.
The center was established with a grant in 2008 and works to raise and increase awareness of Jewish life on Hendrix’s campus and within the community.
Marianne Tettlebaum, director of the Crain-Maling Center, said there are about 30 Jewish students at Hendrix, though not all are active in the organization.
The organization sponsors lectures such as Foer’s, as well as a Jewish film series, Friday night dinners for the Jewish Sabbath and student projects that relate to the Jewish community.
“It’s always such a privilege for my organization to work with the Hendrix Murphy Foundation, which has a long history of bringing distinguished guests and quality programming to Hendrix College,” Tettlebaum said.
Vanaman said Foer’s work is popular among Hendrix students, who packed Staples Auditorium for the lecture.
During his talk, Foer explored laughter through four lenses: silence, prayer, recognition and comfort.
“Jewish thoughts often seem to originate in the mouth,” Foer began. “The jokes I’m telling will be funny in a different way for Jewish people in the audience.”
Why?
He answered that question later: Jewish jokes are funny because they are Jewish.
“I think Jewish humor inspires recognition, a kind of comfort of belonging, relief from alienation and a certain kind of loneliness,” Foer said.
Jewish culture became popular after World War II, when Jewish people needed to feel like they were part of something, Foer said.
“To say how foolish we are is to announce that we are a ‘we,’ which is extraordinarily powerful,” he said.
Foer used stories from his childhood through his newfound parenthood as examples of Jewish humor within the culture.
He asked members of the audience to tell their favorite Jewish jokes as well. One joke no one made was a Holocaust joke. Foer said while it may eventually be the quintessential Jewish joke, no one, in America at least, is ready to tell it.
“It is not a joke that we are ready to make,” he said. “I think that has to do with the idea that it’s an event that’s not over. We are not yet prepared to say that we are safe, that we are relieved, that our anxiety has been eased.”
Foer said he’s not sure why this is true, but maybe laughter and comedy will help. The next Murphy Foundation comedy lecture will be Thursday, Feb. 17, at Reeves Recital Hall, where author Jack Pendarvis will present a lecture titled “Musin’s and Thinkin’s.” For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu/HendrixMurphy.