Between two stools : scatology and its representations in English literature, Chaucer to Swift / Peter J. Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Peter J., 1964- author.

Contributor:

Frost, Matthew, other.

Manchester University Press, publisher.

Series:

Manchester Shakespeare collection.

Manchester Shakespeare collection

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Scatology in literature.

Feces in literature.

English literature--Middle English, 1100-1500--History and criticism.

English literature.

English literature--Early modern, 1500-1700--History and criticism.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 292 pages) : illustrations; digital, PDF file(s).

Other Title:

Scatology and its representations in English literature, Chaucer to Swift

Place of Publication:

Manchester, UK : Manchester University Press, 2015.

Language Note:

In English.

System Details:

text file

PDF

Summary:

Between two stools investigates the representation of scatology - humorous, carnivalesque, satirical, damning and otherwise - in English literature from the middle ages to the eighteenth century. Smith contends that the 'two stools' stand for two broadly distinctive attitudes towards scatology. The first is a carnivalesque, merry, even hearty disposition, typified by the writings of Chaucer and Shakespeare. The second is self-disgust, an attitude characterised by withering misanthropy and hypochondria. Smith demonstrates how the combination of high and low cultures manifests the capacity to run canonical and carnivalesque together so that sanctioned and civilised artefacts and scatological humour frequently co-exist in the works under discussion, evidence of an earlier culture's aptitude (now lost) to occupy a position between two stools. Of interest to cultural and literary historians, this ground-breaking study testifies to the arrival of scatology as an academic subject, at the same time recognising that it remains if not outside, then at least at the margins of conventional scholarship.

Contents:

List of illustrations

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1. Turning the other cheek: scatology and its discontents in The Miller's and The Summoner's Tales

2. Ajax by any other name would smell as sweet: Shakespeare, Harington and onomastic scatology

3. M.O.A.I. 'What should that alphabetical position portend?': Shakespeare, Harington, Reynolds and the metamorphosis of scatology

4. Cavalier scatology between two stools: Rochester, Mennes, Pepys, Urquart and the sense of dis-ordure

5. Swift's shit: poetic traditions and satiric effects

6. Palpable shit: topology, religion and science.

Notes:

First published in print form: 2012.

In-house editor: Matthew Frost.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print record.

Other Format:

Print version: Smith, Peter J. Between two stools: scatology and its representations in English literature, Chaucer to Swift,

ISBN:

9780719098796

9780719098789

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.