1 Peter Barta associate professor Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary Faculty of Arts, French Studies Department Love on the Other Side of the Fence – Analysis of Hungarian Jokes on Marital Infidelity 1 Summary: Until recently, jokes received less attention than other short epical genres recently because they are assumed to lack seriousness, and because of their potential rudeness. However, jokes hold up a mirror to society. Marital fidelity is a frequent and popular theme in such jokes. This chapter will attempt to answer some fundamental questions about infidelity as the subject of jokes. “À toi” Introduction From Greek mythology to the arts, from history to literature, from private conversations to religion, from the psychotherapist’s couch to the courtroom, through the anecdotic explanation of the absence of a Nobel Prize in mathematics, the question of marital fidelity is present in all walks of life. No wonder jokes about it are frequent and popular. Compared to other short epical genres of Hungarian folklore, jokes have been scarcely examined. 2 This is probably due to their falsely assumed lack of seriousness 3 and potential rudeness. However, they certainly deserve study because they reveal new, and sometimes unusual relationships, they dare to express taboos; they reflect society, the spirit of the times, and social change. Their analysis is, therefore, relevant and informative. 1 This chapter is a recast of a paper entitled A házastársi hűségről – magyar viccek alapján [On Conjugal Fidelity – Based on Hungarian Jokes], presented at the Second Hungarian National Interdisciplinary Humour Conference, September 4, 2009 (Kodolányi János College of Székesfehérvár – Budapest Business School, Siófok, September 3–4, 2009) and of an article in Hungarian: A házastársi hűségről – magyar viccek alapján in T. Litovkina, Barta, Hidasi (2010: 11–28). 2 Kovács, Katona (1982: 552). But there are some notable exceptions, e.g. Erőss (1982). In English, see Legman (1968), Legman (1975), Davies (1998), etc. 3 To speak about the lack of seriousness of jokes is not serious in itself. Two pieces of evidence may suffice: Freud (1905) dealt with it seriously; oppressive political regimes without any sense of humour paid a special attention to jokes because they considered them dangerous and possibly persecuted them deadly seriously.