SoMA Virtual Journal Club
Comic Impossibilities Discussion
with Jason Leddington
Our first Virtual Journal Club features Jason Leddington’s new paper, ‘Comic Impossibilities,’ which has been accepted for publication by The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. Jason argues that magic can be conceptualized as a limit case for stand-up comedy. Jason’s article draws from an eclectic variety of sources and thinkers to generate some fascinating original conclusions.
Jason himself will be monitoring this space throughout the week starting June 23, and he will be responding to questions and comments that readers can post on this page (The comment section will be open from the 23rd).
You can download a copy of the paper here: https://www.jasonleddington.net/uploads/3/1/4/6/31463977/comic_impossibilities__final_accepted_version_.pdf
And, once the discussion officially begins on June 23, you can post your questions/comments at the bottom of this page. We’re hoping to make this as inclusive as possible. Whether you’re a performer, academic, or just interested in the topic, all are welcome to participate in the discussion (although please do read the paper!)
You can also view Steve Martin act the Jason discusses here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2enXNShLl0&feature=youtu.be
More about Jason:
Jason Leddington is a philosopher who works on perception, aesthetics, and philosophy of art. He is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Bucknell University and—through 2021—a Marie Curie Fellow at the Centre for Philosophical Psychology at the University of Antwerp. His research on magic takes a multi-disciplinary approach to core questions such as: What is magic? What happens in the mind of a spectator who experiences a good magic trick? If magic involves being fooled, why are we attracted to it? As a Marie Curie Fellow, he’s working on a series of articles and a book on the philosophy of magic (under contract with The MIT Press). For more information about his work, see www.jasonleddington.net.