Ridiculous Critics - Augustan Mockery of Critical Judgment (Hardcover)

Ridiculous Critics is an anthology of eighteenth-century writings on the figure of the literary critic, the newly terrifying censor, the opinionated or foolish drudge who becomes centrally important in the literary world as the mediator between writers and the literary public, inspiring fear, ridicule and wild compensatory imaginings. The collection of critical texts and satirical images is assembled chronologically to reform our vision of the history of eighteenth-century literary criticism. The passages reproduced are taken from critics, poets, novelists and literary commentators celebrated and obscure; they range through poetry, fiction, drama, and periodical writing. The anthology is accompanied by two original essays explaining and illustrating the irrepressible spirit of critical ridicule in the period, and commending its value and effect. Of these essays, the first offers an evaluation of the merciless and sometimes shockingly venomous satirical attacks on critical habits and personalities of the eighteenth century. The editors argue that such attacks are reflexive, in the sense that literature and criticism become increasingly supple and able to observe and examine their own limitless, irresponsible ingenuities from within. The volume s concluding essay supplies an analysis of modern modes of criticism and critical history, and makes comparisons or suggests applications across time. The eighteenth-century mockery of critics is shown to cast light on a neglected common thread in the history of criticism and its recent manifestations; it prompts questions about the relative absence of comedy from the stories we presently tell about critics dead or alive. The passages invite laughter both with the critics and at their expense, and they suggest the place that ridicule (both verbal and visual) might have had since the eighteenth century in the making of judgments, and in the pricking of critical portentousness and pretension. For this reason, they indicate the role that laughter may still have in criticism today and provide an encouraging precedent for more of it."

General

Imprint:	Bucknell University Press
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	September 2014
First published:	September 2014
Editors:	Philip Smallwood • Min Wild
Dimensions:	231 x 163 x 26mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover - With dust jacket
Pages:	266
ISBN-13:	978-1-61148-614-8
Categories:	Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Literary theory Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Literary studies > 19th century Books > Humanities > History > World history > 1750 to 1900 Books > History > World history > 1750 to 1900
LSN:	1-61148-614-9
Barcode:	9781611486148

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