The Victorian Comic Spirit

This title was first published in 2000: "Comedy" and "humour" are not words most associate with the Victorian period, yet their culture was rife with laughter and irony. The 12 essays in this volume reanimate this "comic spirit" by exploring the humour in its social context. While previous studies of humour in the period focus on the age's own ongoing interest in the old distinction in comic theory between wit and humour, this volume aims to show how inadequate this distinction is in accounting for the many types of Victorian comic representation. The essays turn from linguistic or psychological analyses of humour towards the social production of humour and the cultural dynamics which underlie it.

An Essay on comedyand the uses of the comic spirit by George Meredith George Meredith was an English novelist and poet during the Victorian era. Meredith was a prolific writer and he stood out as one of the great authors of comedy of his time. With classics such as The Egoist, Diana of the Crossways, and The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, Meredith remains a popular author today. An Essay on Comedy and the Uses of the Comic Spirit, published in 1877, is an influential work on comic theory. We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.

In "An Essay on Comedy and the Uses of the Comic Spirit," George Meredith offers a profound analysis of the nature of comedy and its role in literature and society. Delving deep into the essence of humor, Meredith examines the ways in which comedy reflects human nature, societal norms, and the intricacies of relationships. This classic essay remains a must-read for anyone interested in the art of comedic writing and its broader implications.

This innovative collection of essays is the first to situate comedy and laughter as central rather than peripheral to nineteenth century life. Victorian Comedy and Laughter: Conviviality,Jokes and Dissent offers new readings of the works of Charles Dickens, Edward Lear,George Eliot, George Gissing, Barry Pain and Oscar Wilde, alongside discussions of much-loved Victorian comics like Little Tich, Jenny Hill, Bessie Bellwood and Thomas Lawrence. Tracing three consecutive and interlocking moods in the period, all of the contributors engage with the crucial critical question of how laughter and comedy shaped Victorian subjectivity and aesthetic form. Malcolm Andrews, Jonathan Buckmaster and Peter Swaab explore the dream of print culture togetherness that is conviviality, while Bob Nicholson, Louise Lee, Ann Featherstone,Louise Wingrove and Oliver Double discuss the rise-on-rise of the Victorian joke — both on the page and the stage — while Peter Jones, Jonathan Wild and Matthew Kaiser consider the impassioned debates concerning old and new forms of laughter that took place at the end of the century.

Originally published in 1910, this book provides a detailed introduction to Victorian literature and the context in which it was created. The main body of the text analyses the general trends in poetry and prose during the period, providing individual chapters on major literary figures such as Tennyson, Browning, Dickens and Thackeray. Key aspects in Victorian thought are also discussed, covering a variety of philosophical, theological and scientific ideas. This is a fascinating text that will be of value to anyone with an interest in Victorian literature and the development of literary criticism.

An Essays On Comedy and The Uses of The Comic Spirit