User:Jacobisq/Jeu d'esprit

A jeu d'esprit is a lighthearted literary construct, focusing on clever wittiness rather than moral seriousness, playful charm rather than thematic significance.

The term can also apply to the playing with ideas in general: thus Arthur Koestler considered that there is "a continuous stretch from the pun through the play on words (jeu de mots) to the play of ideas (jeu d'esprit)".

Examples

 * Dada has been seen as motivated by the jeu d'esprit.


 * The Hobbit, written by J. R. R. Tolkien for his children's amusement, has been considered a jeu d'esprit.


 * Anthony Burgess called his most famous novel A Clockwork Orange a "jeu d'esprit knocked off for money in three weeks".