Sucking Up : A Brief Consideration of Sycophancy / Deborah Parker, Mark Parker, and Scott Mendel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Parker, Deborah, 1954- author.

Parker, Mark, 1956- author.

Mendel, Scott, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Toadyism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (136 pages)

Place of Publication:

Charlottesville, Virginia : University of Virginia Press, [2017]

Summary:

Suck-up. Ass-kisser. Brownnoser. Bootlicker. Lickspittle. Toadeater... Found in every walk of life, both real and imagined, sycophants surround us. But whether we grumble about sycophancy or grudgingly tolerate it as a price of getting along in a complex society, we rarely examine it closely. This book humorously considers that slavish art from the historical past to our current political environment, and particularly through the revealing lens of literature. Some of the grandest examples of yes-men appear in these pages--from Dante's flatterers and Dickens's Uriah Heep to Kellyanne Conway, who urged us to "go buy Ivanka's stuff, " and the obsequious soul who apologized to Vice President Cheney for being shot by him.More relevant now than ever, as sucking up becomes the master trope of the Trump era, this choice romp through the spectacular world of bowing and scraping will entertain and enlighten.

Contents:

Introduction

"Fittest imp of fraud"

Word sounds and histories

Cautionary tales

The science of sycophancy

Literature and sycophancy

Sycophancy as an art form

Sycophancy on the silver screen

Transformative sycophancy

How low can one go?.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780813940908

0813940907