Oh dear-- I'm afraid Pooh that your "Theory of Humor" is just pooh. The whole thing is based more or less in terms of visual humor which is hardly the way to analyze a novel. Additionally, you reveal a lack of awareness of the breadth and complexity of American humor. We are not known particularly for our "Level 1" humor-- the pratfall. Though using your terms, I suppose that the Three Stooges and the Keystone Kops match that. But you ignore the type of humor or satire illustrated by Chaplain, Will Rogers, Mark Twain, Joseph Heller and Sinclair Lewis, to mention only a few.
If we restate your definition as that of Merriam-Webster definition of humor
" (a) that quality which appeals to a sense of the ludicrous or absurdly incongruous (b) the mental faculty of discovering, expressing, or appreciating the ludicrous or absurdly incongruous (c ): something that is or is designed to be comical or amusing"
one can say that
Pyramids is a humorous novel. And certainly Pratchet's early works rely heavily on humor. As Tony noted, and Penfold expanded on brilliantly, that is pretty much all the early novels are. Once you’ve read them once (and tried to find the allusions or punny names) there’s not much more there. That is the reason I find
COM, LF, and
Pyramids almost unreadable--even after 3 more tries at
Pyramids.
But Pratchett is so much more than a humorous or comic novelist. What he is known and recognized for, as illustrated in the detailed discussion of
the various form of satire in Wiki is as one of the great satiric novelists of the 20th century and beyond.
"In the United Kingdom, the literary genre of satire also began to grow at the height of World War II and the years of the Cold War. George Orwell's Animal Farm marked the beginning of a political satire, with talking animals who plot to rule the world. Upon defeating Farmer Jones, they break out into an era of totalitarianism. One of the most popular satirists in the history of British literature is the recently knighted Sir Terry Pratchett, whose internationally best-selling Discworld series has sold more than 55,000,000 copies."
In his ability to explore war, religion, slavery and other social phenomena through his use of the satiric novel, Pratchett joins the great satirists--Jonathan Swift, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain.
