The English sense of humor?

The 'English sence of humor' has preserved its place close to the heartland s of Englishness by claiming to be beyond analysis. This paper nevertheless offers an analysis of the English sence of humor as structured around empi ricism. Irony, the exposure of self-deception, a tendency to fantasy and ex cess can all be related back to the English empiricist tradition. To suppor t this argument two contrasted examples from different class registers are explored: David Lodge's novel Small World, and the 'rude' picture postcards dicussed in the famous essay by George Orwell.