Cynic Satire

Author/creator McLuhan, Eric Author
Format Electronic
Publication InfoNewcastle upon Tyne : Cambridge Scholars Publisher Bristol : ISD [Distributor]
Description250 p.
Supplemental ContentFull text available from Ebook Central - Academic Complete

Summary Annotation A Menippean-Cynic-satire is a device for producing a specific kind of effect on the reader. Menippean satire is an active form, not a passive one: any work that produces the effect of a Menippean satire is a Menippean satire. It is the embodiment of a Cynic-of a Diogenes or a Menippus or a Lucian or a Rabelais. For centuries, it has frustrated the best efforts of critics to define it. Descriptive criteria (such as a mixture of verse and prose) invariably fail because the form is determinedly fluid and polymorphous, and playful: it shifts its mode of attack with every change in culture or perception. Menippists plagiarize with abandon, from anyone and any period and culture. McLuhan has found a new and potent method of coming to grips with the satires by examining their interaction with the audience: the satire does what a Cynic would, were he or she physically present. This approach accounts for every shift in technique, from the most ancient (Homer composed one, the Margites) to tomorrow afternoon, and also opens the discussion of Menippism in any and all media other than literature-TV, digital, film, radio, et al. The book ends with a litmus test for detecting Menippean satires. It is also lavishly illustrated with title pages of some of the most notorious examples in the tradition, and will be ideal as a textbook for undergraduates
Access restrictionAvailable only to authorized users.
Technical detailsMode of access: World Wide Web
Genre/formElectronic books.
ISBN9781443877602
ISBN1443877603 (Trade Cloth) Active Record
Standard identifier# 9781443877602
Stock number01436906

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