English Satires
English Satires

Author: Jonathan Swift

Publisher: Good Press

Published: 2023-08-12

Total Pages: 363

ISBN-13:

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English Satires is a compelling anthology that encapsulates the brilliant wit and razor-sharp critique that have defined English satirical writing across ages. This collection weaves together a rich tapestry of works that span from the pithy, comedic tales of Chaucer to the keen societal observations of Swift and Pope, embracing a diversity of literary forms including poetry, prose, and the essay. The anthology reveals the evolution of satirical techniques, showcasing standout pieces that have left an indelible mark on literary tradition, all while maintaining a cohesive exploration of themes such as human folly, societal norms, and political arrogance. The contributing authors are monumental figures whose works have not only contributed to but also shaped the canon of English literature. From Jonathan Swifts acerbic prose to Robert Burns' lyrical mastery and Daniel Defoe's pioneering narratives, each author brings a unique voice that reflects diverse historical and cultural contexts. Together, they represent significant periods in literature, from the Renaissance to the Romantic era, highlighting how satire has served as a powerful tool for social and political commentary. 'English Satires' invites readers to dive into the depths of English literary satire, offering a unique lens to view the subtlety, complexity, and evolution of this enduring genre. Through this anthology, one gains an unparalleled opportunity to understand the dialogues between authors from different eras, each critiquing their society in ways that remain remarkably relevant today. This collection is not only an essential academic resource but also a treasure trove for anyone looking to appreciate the art of satire and its significant impact on English literature and beyond.

The Brink of All We Hate
The Brink of All We Hate

Author: Felicity A. Nussbaum

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky

Published: 2014-07-15

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 0813164079

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"Is it not monstrous, that our Seducers should be our Accusers? Will they not employ Fraud, nay often Force to gain us? What various Arts, what Stratagems, what Wiles will they use for our Destruction? But that once accomplished, every opprobrious Term with which our Language so plentifully abounds, shall be bestowed on us, even by the very Villains who have wronged us"—Laetitia Pilkington, Memoirs (1748). In her scandalous Memoirs, Laetitia Pilkington spoke out against the English satires of the Restoration and eighteenth century, which employed "every opprobrious term" to chastise women. In The Brink of All We Hate, Felicity Nussbaum documents and groups those opprobrious terms in order to identify the conventions of the satires, to demonstrate how those conventions create a myth, to provide critical readings of poetic texts in the antifeminist tradition, and to draw some conclusions about the basic nature of satire. Nussbaum finds that the English tradition of antifeminist satire draws on a background that includes Hesiod, Horace, Ovid, and Juvenal, as well as the more modern French tradition of La Bruyere and Boileau and the late seventeenth-century English pamphlets by Gould, Fige, and Ames. The tradition was employed by the major figures of the golden age of satire—Samuel Butler, Dryden, Swift, Addison, and Pope. Examining the elements of the tradition of antifeminist satire and exploring its uses, from the most routine to the most artful, by the various poets, Nussbaum reveals a clearer context in which many poems of the Restoration and eighteenth century will be read anew.

The Literature of Satire
The Literature of Satire

Author: Charles A. Knight

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2004-02-12

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13: 1139452282

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The Literature of Satire is an accessible but sophisticated and wide-ranging study of satire from the classics to the present in plays, novels and the press as well as in verse. In it Charles Knight analyses the rhetorical problems created by satire's complex relations to its community, and examines how it exploits the genres it borrows. He argues that satire derives from an awareness of the differences between appearance, ideas and discourse. Knight provides illuminating readings of such satirists familiar and unfamiliar as Horace, Lucian, Jonson, Molière, Swift, Pope, Byron, Flaubert, Ostrovsky, Kundera, and Rushdie. This broad-ranging examination sheds light on the nature and functions of satire as a mode of writing, as well as on theoretical approaches to it. It will be of interest to scholars interested in literary theory as well as those specifically interested in satire.

Nervous People, and Other Satires
Nervous People, and Other Satires

Author: Mikhail Zoshchenko

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 1975

Total Pages: 484

ISBN-13: 9780253201928

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Among the most popular writers of the early Soviet period was the satirist Mikhail Zoshchenko, whose career spanned nearly four decades and who was as beloved by ordinary people as he was admired by the elite. His most popular pieces, often appearing in newspapers, were "short-short stories" written in a slangy, colloquial style. Typical targets of his satire are the Soviet bureaucracy, crowded conditions in communal apartments, marital infidelities and the rapid turnover in marriage partners, and what a disdainful Soviet judge in one of the sketches dismisses as "the petty-bourgeois mode of life, with its adulterous episodes, lying, and similar nonsense." Farcical complications, satiric understatement, humorous anachronisms, and an ironic contrast between high-flown sentiments and the down-to-earth reality of mercenary instincts were his favorite devices. Zoshchenko had an uncanny knack for eluding Soviet censorship (one of the sketches even touches humorously on the dangerous topic of party purges) and his work as a result offers us a marvelous window on life in Russia during the twenties and thirties.