Trolling before the internet : an offline history of insult, provocation, and public humiliation in the literary classics / David Rudrum.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rudrum, David, 1974- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Invective in literature.

Ridicule in literature.

Humiliation in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 310 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Bloomsbury Academic, [2025]

System Details:

text file HTML

Summary:

"An accessible and engaging history of trolling before the internet, tracing the ancestry of its textual and rhetorical strategies from ancient Greece to the 20th century. Taking in the contrarianism of Lord Byron, the wit of Oscar Wilde, insult trading in Shakespeare, Jonathan Swift's disaster trolling, Martin Luther's dissemination of heresy through a public discussion forum, the grotesquely misogynistic abuse hurled in Archilochus's poetry, the taunting provocations of avant-garde manifestos, and not forgetting public humiliations in Beowulf, David Rudrum demonstrates that trolls' rhetorical shenanigans are neither new nor unvanquishable"-- Provided by publisher.

Trolling began long before the internet. This accessible history traces the ancestry of its textual and rhetorical strategies, by looking at literature from ancient Greece to the 1980s. Trolling is the most controversial genre of writing to have risen to prominence in the 21st century, with far-reaching consequences for its writers and readers alike. But it is too often regarded as a technological problem, confined to the internet. This book takes a very different approach: it regards trolling as a cultural problem with a long and venerable literary history. Taking in the contrarianism of Lord Byron, the wit of Oscar Wilde, insult trading in Shakespeare, Jonathan Swift's disaster trolling, Martin Luther's dissemination of heresy through a public discussion forum, the grotesquely misogynistic abuse hurled in Archilochus's poetry, the taunting provocations of avant-garde manifestos, and not forgetting public humiliations in Beowulf, David Rudrum demonstrates that trolls' rhetorical shenanigans are neither new nor unvanquishable.

Contents:

Cover

Contents

Acknowledgements

Prefatory note on content

Introduction: Trolling in/and/as literature

1 Trolling is … Trolling and its definitions: What we (don't) know so far

2 … to defame, insult, or humiliate an opponent in public … From flyting to flaming

from Beowulf to Shakespeare

3 … or to make a public statement … Trolling the pope: Martin Luther goes viral

4 … of views that are not sincerely held … U Can Has Babeez! - Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal

5 … but instead aim to court controversy … Oscar Wilde as a contrarian troll, or, How to put the 'wit' into 'Twitter'

6 … or to be provocative or vexatious … 'A Slap in the Face of Public Taste': Some avant-garde trolls

7 … sometimes with legal consequences Social justice trolling: Émile Zola's J'Accuse...!

Conclusions

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on January 14, 2025)

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Rudrum, David, 1974- Trolling before the internet

ISBN:

9781501391545

1501391542

9781501391552

1501391550

9781501391569

1501391569

OCLC:

1434114682