Satire and the Public Emotions

Author : Robert Phiddian (Flinders University)

Paperback

Published : Thursday 2 January 2020

ISBN : 9781108798839

Price : €20.49

You may also like ...

Satire and the Public Emotions

by Robert Phiddian (Flinders University)

Paperback

02 Jan 2020

POLITICAL SCIENCE
>> History AND Theory

€20.49

Extended stock - Dispatch 5-7 days

Description

Phiddian explores the distinction between satirical and comic laughter, and the role of satire in licensing public expression of harsh emotions defined in neuroscience as the CAD (contempt, anger, disgust) triad. With a focus on eighteenth-century satirists such as Jonathan Swift, he reveals the importance of satire to free political expression.

The dream of political satire - to fearlessly speak truth to power - is not matched by its actual effects. This study explores the role of satirical communication in licensing public expression of harsh emotions defined in neuroscience as the CAD (contempt, anger, disgust) triad. The mobilisation of these emotions is a fundamental distinction between satirical and comic laughter. Phiddian pursues this argument particularly through an account of Jonathan Swift and his contemporaries. They played a crucial role in the early eighteenth century to make space in the public sphere for intemperate dissent, an essential condition of free political expression.

Reviews