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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.
List of contents
1. The functions of satire; 2. Satire and the contempt, anger, disgust (CAD) triad of emotions; 3. The passions, satire, and liberty of expression in the craftsman moment; 4. Gulliver's Travels ¿ 'wit, confederated with truth'; 5. Epilogue. Satire in the digital age.
About the author
Robert Phiddian is Professor of English at Flinders University. He is author of Swift's Parody (1995) and (with Julian Meyrick and Tully Barnett) What Matters? Talking Value in Australian Culture (2018). He edited (with Haydon Manning) Comic Commentators – Contemporary Political Cartooning in Australia (2008) and (with David Lemmings and Heather Kerr) Passions, Sympathy and Print Culture: Public Opinion and Emotional Authenticity in Eighteenth-Century Britain (2016). He is author or co-author of nearly fifty academic articles or chapters. He was the founding director of the Australasian Consortium of Humanities Research Centres (2011-17) and sits on the board of the international Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes.
Summary
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.
