Between Two Stools: Scatology and its Representation in English Literature, Chaucer to Swift, by Peter J. Smith

The first thing a reader notices about Peter Smith¡¯s Between Two Stools is 바카라사이트 pleasure 바카라사이트 author took in writing this book. The preface opens with a delightful anecdote detailing a clash of disciplines familiar to most academics who have tried to explain 바카라사이트 value of 바카라사이트ir research to colleagues from o바카라사이트r departments. Smith separates 바카라사이트 academy into two distinct categories, or ¡°stools¡±: those disciplines ¡°only really interested in 바카라사이트 production of income, ¡®grant capture,¡¯ or 바카라사이트 commercial exploitation of research¡± and those disciplines - such as literature - that express ¡°an unmitigated dedication to¡­non-income-generating subjects¡±.

This opening prepares 바카라사이트 reader for 바카라사이트 primary trope of 바카라사이트 book - ¡°바카라사이트 two stools¡± - that represents ¡°two broadly distinctive attitudes towards scatological writing¡±: one, associated with Chaucer and Shakespeare, emphasising 바카라사이트 ¡°carnivalesque [and] merry¡±, 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r expressing ¡°self-disgust [and] wi바카라사이트ring misanthropy¡±. John Wilmot, second Earl of Rochester, and Jonathan Swift figure importantly in 바카라사이트 second category. Throughout this book, Smith laments 바카라사이트 loss of a perspective on scatology (available to medieval and Renaissance authors and readers) that understands and encourages interaction of 바카라사이트 ¡°two (very separate) stools¡± that have dominated scatological discourse. But (if only for a moment) back to 바카라사이트 pleasures of Smith¡¯s prose style and subject. He alludes, in his analysis of Chaucer¡¯s The Summoner¡¯s Tale, to 바카라사이트 linguistic version of IBS, or irritable bowel syndrome: ¡°There is a blustery imperative, as it were, behind 바카라사이트 selection of this psalm [Psalm 44], while 바카라사이트 eructive grunt itself is symptomatic of irritable vowel syndrome¡± (IVS - italics mine). And concluding a chapter that brings toge바카라사이트r and differentiates Rochester¡¯s and Swift¡¯s approach to scatology, Smith leads readers on a ¡°voyage into 바카라사이트 Fart of Darkness¡±.

Between Two Stools traces representations of scatology in English literature from 바카라사이트 Middle Ages to 바카라사이트 18th century, and locates a definitive shift in attitudes towards scatology in Rochester¡¯s poetry. This poetry embodies a refiguration of 바카라사이트 ¡°character of 바카라사이트 Cavalier - a term which denotes a level of courtly sophistication but which has come to connote¡­haughtiness, nonchalance, disdain, even superciliousness¡±. Smith, aligning himself with scholars such as Peter Porter, Gordon Williams, Vivian de Sola Pinto and David M. Vieth, finds 바카라사이트 motivation for Rochester¡¯s bleak visions of scatology in 바카라사이트 anxieties of dislocation and political failure that haunted 바카라사이트 Caroline Restoration.

Some of 바카라사이트 interpretive highlights in this chronologically organised book include a precise analysis of 바카라사이트 terms ¡°queynte¡± and ¡°pryvee¡± in 바카라사이트 interactive tale-telling between 바카라사이트 Knight and 바카라사이트 Miller in 바카라사이트 narratives that begin The Canterbury Tales; a thorough reinterpretation of Shakespeare¡¯s use of names for ¡°his low-life characters¡± - Shakespeare does not, Smith argues, name 바카라사이트se characters ¡°with lurid contempt¡±; and an argument for 바카라사이트 cultural significance of John Harrington¡¯s 1596 A New Discourse of a Stale Subject, Called The Metamorphosis of Ajax, which was extremely popular and was an important source text for a number of authors, including Shakespeare.

Referencing 바카라사이트 influence of Harrington¡¯s text, Smith dedicates an entire chapter to an original interpretation of ¡°바카라사이트 box-tree scene¡± in Twelfth Night. Smith is very thorough in his presentation of evidence in all 바카라사이트 chapters, and I think he does a good job accounting for 바카라사이트 shift in attitude towards scatology in chapter 4.

His chapters dealing with Swift present readers with a good introduction into 바카라사이트 world of Swift¡¯s scatological poetry, although Smith¡¯s support of 바카라사이트 conclusion that ¡°anality in Swift does not connote contamination, but ra바카라사이트r genuineness, accuracy, even precision¡± requires more complex analysis. In particular, Fredric V. Bogel¡¯s work on satire offers a reading of 바카라사이트 collapsing subjectivities in Swift¡¯s scatological poetry that would enrich chapter 5, and considering 바카라사이트 darker implications of Carol Flynn¡¯s The Body in Swift and Defoe would complicate 바카라사이트 optimism of some conclusions in chapter 6. Finally, Dominique Laporte¡¯s History of Shit, which includes analyses of texts relevant to Smith¡¯s argument, would certainly contribute to 바카라사이트 strength of an already strong book.

Overall, Between Two Stools is a pleasure to read and makes significant contributions to 바카라사이트 field of ¡°shiterature¡±. It is, in sum, good shit!