1st Edition

Satire in the Elizabethan Era An Activistic Art

By William Jones Copyright 2018
    178 Pages
    by Routledge

    178 Pages
    by Routledge

    This book argues that the satire of the late Elizabethan period goes far beyond generic rhetorical persuasion, but is instead intentionally engaged in a literary mission of transideological "perceptual translation." This reshaping of cultural orthodoxies is interpreted in this study as both authentic and "activistic" in the sense that satire represents a purpose-driven attempt to build a consensual community devoted to genuine socio-cultural change. The book includes explorations of specific ideologically stabilizing satires produced before the Bishops’ Ban of 1599, as well as the attempt to return nihilistic English satire to a stabilizing theatrical form during the tumultuous end of the reign of Elizabeth I. Dr. Jones infuses carefully chosen, modern-day examples of satire alongside those of the Elizabethan Era, making it a thoughtful, vigorous read.



    Chapter One: Satire and History. Chapter Two: Satire and Empire: Tracing the Ideological Encoding of English Renaissance Satire. Chapter Three: Satire Unchained. Chapter Four: Ganymedes, Amazons, and Termagants: Anti-Feminist Satires in the Bishops’ Ban. Chapter Five: Shakespearean Satire and London’s Inns of Court.

    Biography

    Dr. William R. Jones is an Associate Professor of English at Murray State University