From rhetoric to aesthetics--wit and esprit : in the English and French theoretical writings of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries / Klára Bicanová.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bicanová, Klára, 1977- author.

Series:

Spisy Filosofické fakulty Masarykovy university v Brně ; Císlo 421.

Opera Universitatis Masarykianae Brunensis. Facultas philosophica = Spisy Masarykovy univerzity v Brně. Filozofická fakulta, 1211-3034 ; ; Císlo 421

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English literature--History and criticism.

English literature.

French literature--History and criticism.

French literature.

Aesthetics, British.

Aesthetics, French.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (156 pages) : illustrations, tables.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Brno, [Czech Republic] : Masaryk University Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The thesis deals primarily with the term wit and its modern and historical usage in literary and aesthetic theories. Further, it concerned with the literary and aesthetic implications of the terms wit and esprit as they were theorized in critical writings of several authors of the early modern England and France. The thesis has two primary goals. The first goal is to re-assess the English concept of wit, nowadays regarded as an out-dated device of past poetic systems, and to present it as vital and useful part of the contemporary discourse. The second goal is to provide comparative reading of early modern English and French theoretical texts dealing with wit and esprit, respectively. Presenting ideas on the English term wit as employed in the theoretical writings in the light of its French equivalent esprit, I wish to demonstrate a gradual development of the terms from rhetoric to aesthetic.

Contents:

Intro

Table of Contents

Introduction

1 T heoretical and Historical Prolegomena

1.1 Wit Theorized: Summary of Twentieth-Century Approaches

1.1.1 Beginnings of Critical Interest in Wit: Courthope, Spingarn, Eliot

1.1.2 Formalist and Linguistic Approach: Empson and Lewis

1.1.3 Structuralist, Post-structuralist and Psychoanalytic Angle: Culler, Sitter, Kroll

1.2 Wit as Aesthetic Concept

1.2.1 The Problem of Definition: 'Wit' in Dictionaries

1.2.2 Wit and Humour and the Sublime and the Beautiful: Comparative Approach

1.2.3 Wit as Aesthetic Principle: Visual Arts, Theatre Studies, Game Theories

1.3 The Literature and Culture of the Late Seventeenth Century: Political, Philosophical and Literary-historical Background

1.3.1 Rhetoric and the Renaissance Poetic

1.3.2 Seventeenth-century France: Society and Arts in the State of Flux

1.3.3 Society in Transition: Restoration England and its Culture

2 Official and Alternative Classical Aesthetics: Bouhours, Méré, and Boileau

2.1 Dominique Bouhours and Poetic Ideologies of the Bel Esprit

2.1.1 The bel esprit and the je-ne-sais-quoi

2.1.2 Les Entretiens d'Artiste et d'Eugène: The Key Concepts of the New Aesthetic Introduced

2.1.3 La Maniére de bien penser dans les ouvrages d'esprit: The theory expanded

2.1.4 Bouhours's Reception in England

2.2 Chevalier de Méré: Esprit as Light of Nature

2.2.1 The Polite Lexicon: the je-ne-sais-quoi, honnêteté , and esprit

2.2.2 Discours de l'Esprit: The Polite Society versus Nature

2.3 Nicolas Boileau-Déspreaux and the Ideal of Neoclassical Esprit

2.3.1 Boileau as a Critic

2.3.2 Esprit in Boileau's Translation of Le Traité du sublime

2.3.3 L'Art poétique: The Text and the Context

2.3.4 Use of Esprit in L'Art poétique

2.3.5 Boileau's Reception in England.

3 True and False Wit: Dryden, Pope, and Addison

3.1 John Dryden and Vagaries of Restoration Wit

3.1.1 The Specifics of Dryden's Critical Style and Terminology

3.1.2 The Beginnings: The Essay of Dramatick Poesy

3.1.3 Annus Mirabilis and Beyond: Theory Expounded

3.1.4 French vs English, Moderns vs Ancients: Wit as Compromise

3.2 Alexander Pope and Wit as Meta-criticism

3.2.1 An Essay on Criticism: Critics' Enigma

3.2.2 The Contexts of An Essay on Criticism

3.2.3 From 'Wild Heap' to 'Nature to Advantage Dress'd': Pope's Dual Conception of Wit

3.2.4 Pope and Addison I: Pride, Vanity and Wit

3.3 Joseph Addison and the Aesthetics of Neoclassical Wit

3.3.1 The Spectator and the Neoclassical Criticism

3.3.2 The Spectator Series on Wit

3.3.3 Ambiguity and Surprise: Addison's Aesthetics of Neoclassical Wit

3.4 Wit and Esprit: Points of Accord and Dissonance

3.4.1 The French Criticism in England: The Question of Influence

3.4.2 Wit and Esprit as Signs of Advancement in English and French Culture

3.4.4 Wit and Esprit: Terminology of New Taste

Conclusion

Bibliography

Endnotes

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical referencesa nd index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9788021082304

8021082305

OCLC:

993060252