Trolling before the internet : an offline history of insult, provocation, and public humiliation in the literary classics / David Rudrum.
| Author/creator | Rudrum, David, 1974- author. |
| Format | Book |
| Publication | New York, NY : Bloomsbury Academic/Bloomsbury Publishing Inc, 2025. |
| Copyright Date | ©2025 |
| Description | 307 pages ; 23 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | 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 contarian 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. |
| Abstract | "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. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Issued in other form | Online version: Rudrum, David, 1974- Trolling before the internet New York : Bloomsbury Academic, 2025 9781501391545 |
| Genre/form | Literary criticism. |
| Genre/form | Critiques littéraires. |
| LCCN | 2024013963 |
| ISBN | 9781501391538 paperback |
| ISBN | 1501391534 paperback |
| ISBN | 9781501391521 hardcover |
| ISBN | 1501391526 hardcover |
| ISBN | electronic book |
| ISBN | electronic book |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joyner | General Stacks | PN56 .I648 R83 2025 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |