Between two stools Scatology and its representations in English literature, Chaucer to Swift

by Smith, Peter J.

• ISBN13: 9780719087943
• ISBN10: 0719087945
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-08-01
• Publisher: Manchester University Press

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.

Author Biography

Peter J. Smith is Reader in Renaissance Literature, Nottingham Trent University.

Table of 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 * A Palpable Shit: Topology, Religion and Science * Bibliography