"Humor and the novel both belong, in important ways, to the nineteenth century. It is in the nineteenth-century that we saw an unprecedented outpouring of novels and short-stories, and it was also in the nineteenth century when 'humor' emerged as the dominant term through which the comic was described. Victorian Humor argues that these two features of nineteenth-century culture shape one another in significant ways and, together, point to a broader societal shift in ways of thinking about the individual.Building upon this historical connection, Victorian Humor offers a new theory and methodology for the interpretation of humor as a technique of narrative communication. This theory is described and illustrated through lively and amusing analyses of a wide range of texts: canonical texts by Dickens, Thackeray, and Trollope, more obscure texts by Bulwer-Lytton, Meredith, and Frances Trollope, as well as the minor works of Eliot and Gaskell. This theory is developed in conversation with recent interdisciplinary research in humor theory and narrative theory, grounded in nineteenth-century literary and intellectual culture. It offers the field of literature and Victorian literature a needful update both to how we understand humor and interpret its presence innarrative"-- Provided by publisher.
Humor and the novel both belong, in important ways, to the nineteenth century. It is in the nineteenth-century that we saw an unprecedented outpouring of novels and short-stories, and it was also in the nineteenth century when ‘humor’ emerged as the dominant term through which the comic was described.
Humor and the novel both belong, in important ways, to the nineteenth century. It is in the nineteenth-century that we saw an unprecedented outpouring of novels and short-stories, and it was also in the nineteenth century when ‘humor’ emerged as the dominant term through which the comic was described. Victorian Humor argues that these two features of nineteenth-century culture shape one another in significant ways and, together, point to a broader societal shift in ways of thinking about the individual. Building upon this historical connection, Victorian Humor offers a new theory and methodology for the interpretation of humor as a technique of narrative communication. This theory is described and illustrated through lively and amusing analyses of a wide range of texts: canonical texts by Dickens, Thackeray, and Trollope, more obscure texts by Bulwer-Lytton, Meredith, and Frances Trollope, as well as the minor works of Eliot and Gaskell. This theory is developed in conversation with recent interdisciplinary research in humor theory and narrative theory, grounded in nineteenth-century literary and intellectual culture. It offers the field of literature and Victorian literature a needful update both to how we understand humor and interpret its presence in narrative.
Contents:
List of Illustrations
Preface
Introduction: Victorian Humor
· Their Laughter, Our Laughter
· A Place for Shared Laughter
· Current Humor Scholarship
· Humor and the Victorian Novel
Chapter One - A History of the Comic and Humor
· Pre-Modern Views of the Comic and a Changed Intellectual Habitus
· From Typology to Personality
· Moral Theory, Sentiment, and Ridicule in the Eighteenth Century
· The Romantic Imagination, Pathos, and Humor
· The Character of Victorian Humor
· Conclusion
Chapter Two - Patterns of Attention
· Introducing Humor: Dickens Christmas Carol and Stevensons Dr. Jekyll and
Mr. Hyde and Treasure Island
· Victorian Realism and Accurate Eccentrics: Collins The Moonstone
· Victorian Manners and Recognizable Eccentrics: Trollopes Orley Farm and
Gaskells Wives and Daughters
· Conclusion
Chapter Three - Narration
· The Interpretive Implications of Intimacy: Gaskells Cranford and
Thackerays A Little Dinner at Timminss
· Dual-Focalization and Characterizing the First-Person Narrator: Dickens
Great Expectations
· Rhetorical Irony, Romantic Irony, and the Narrator: Bulwer-Lyttons Pelham
· Humorous Narratorial Presence: Eliots Middlemarch
· An Avatar of Benevolence: Dickens Pickwick
· Conclusion
Chapter Four - Characters
· Peripheral Figures: The Immortality of Micawber
· Satiric Anti-Heroines: Thackerays Vanity Fair, Frances Trollopes Widow
Barnaby, and Merediths Evan Harrington
· Humorous Heroines: Dickens David Copperfield and Our Mutual Friend,
Oliphants Miss Marjoribanks and Phoebe Junior, and Trollopes Barchester
Chronicles and The Prime Minister
· Conclusion
Chapter Five - Persuasion
· Novel Religious Priorities: Trollopes Rachel Ray, Eliots The Sad
Fortunes of the Reverend Amos Barton, and Oliphants The Rector
· Humorous Extremes and Humorous Mediation: Dickens Hard Times and
Trollopes The Warden
· Conclusion
Conclusion - A Changing Character
· A Convivial Invitation
Index
Glynnis Cox is a recent graduate of the University of Edinburgh, where she served as graduate coordinator for the James Tait Black prize in fiction and biography and was a recipient of a Saltire Foundation scholarship. She is an independent scholar.
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