'Ha, ha, ha': Modes of Satire in the Royalist Newsbook The Man in the Moon
| Autor: | Laurent Curelly |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | English<br />French |
| Rok vydání: | 2013 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | XVII-XVIII, Vol 70, Pp 73-90 (2013) |
| Druh dokumentu: | article |
| ISSN: | 0291-3798 2117-590X |
| DOI: | 10.4000/1718.510 |
| Popis: | The Man in the Moon was the only royalist mercury to come to life after the regicide in 1649 while other royalist newsbooks had either disappeared from the market or were briefly revived. It has variously been labelled as “smutty,” “obscene,” as well as “reactionary and popular,” providing an example of “uninformative and pornographic journalism.” Precisely, John Crouch, who was presumably its author, made no secret of his satirical intentions, as appears in his programmatic poem topping the first issue of the newsbook: “With pricking Bushes at my back, / I’le make Satyrick Whipps.” This paper looks into the satirical identity of The Man in the Moon in comparison with other royalist newspapers: it assesses how much Crouch’s newsbook was shaped by laughter, highlights the main features of political satire and discusses how far satire – and the laughter that it was meant to provoke – contributed to the emergence of a post-elegiac mood that overcame royalist journalism. Thus, as a publication offering not only a counterblast to official propaganda disseminated through pro-Commonwealth newsbooks but also a playful variation on the post-regicide elegiac mood that had set in among royalists, The Man in the Moon deserves reappraisal. |
| Databáze: | Directory of Open Access Journals |
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