Contenu
"This will be the first proper history of English satire, from its origins in the late medieval period to the present day. This book is a history of political satire in English literature, from the Middle Ages through the nineteenth century. The aim is to present a coherent history of what has been an everchanging, complex series of literary traditions that we refer to as satire, from its beginnings in various kinds of medieval grotesque up to the proliferation of the modern novel. Author Dan Sperrin presents interesting and original insights into the satirist's paradoxical situation at both the periphery and the centre of culture. The text is organised chronologically by period and is concentrated upon canonical figures - including Chaucer, Dryden, Swift, Pope, Johnson and Dickens - but also including more obscure writers in such a way as to be focused enough to tell a story but broad enough to include variation, of which there is decidedly a great deal by the very nature of what the author describes as a mercurial literary form. Satire, as Sperrin demonstrates, often takes aim at grand narratives and comprehensive taxonomies, and the book accounts for eccentricity and individuality as a matter of principle"--