Economic wise men: self-healing of the underdog
Social class is increasingly becoming a literary theme – associated with this is a renaissance of the male joke.

Home of men’s jokes: the corner pub Photo: dpa
Men’s jokes are manual labor jokes. Sure, there are civil servant jokes, janitor jokes, boss jokes, doctor jokes, etc., but these are, if not headworker jokes, then professional jokes. "Male humor, with its jokes about beer and naked women, seems on the one hand to have fallen completely out of time, but on the other hand it persists," writes Die Welt. They belong to a certain form of existence that was widespread in West Germany until recent times: the man works hard, earns the dough, and the woman takes care of the household and the children. To gain distance from both, he goes to "his" pub. "Landlady," he calls out as he enters, "did I really drink away 20 marks last night?" When the landlady confirms this to him, he says, "Thank God, I already thought I’d squandered the dough."