Widely regarded as a significant contribution to aesthetics, Sigmund Freud's 'Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious' investigates a subject neglected by most psychoanalysts. Freud deals with the unconscious and conscious sources of pleasure found in jokes, wit, comedy, and humor. He examines their techniques, aims, social functions, and the role of the audience, contrasting them with dreams due to their similar mechanisms but different functions. The book includes a rich collection of jokes, particularly from the Jewish folk tradition, and theorizes that jokes and humor allow for the release of repressed ideas and emotions, enabling the euphoria akin to the 'mood of our childhood.' This Pelican Freud Library edition, volume 6, is translated and edited by James Strachey, based on the Standard Edition, and is a foundational text for understanding the psychology of humor.