Fairclough, Peter (1976) Humour in the novel 1800-1850 : the moral vision and the autonomous imagination. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This thesis attempts to trace the development
of two kinds of humorous sensibility in the fiction
of the period 1800-1850, and to analyse the tensions
between them. Humour as inherited from the
eighteenth century contained diverse and sometimes
contradictory elements which were strongly developed
in the Romantic period, so nineteenth century
humour could recommend an ideal individual morality,
express social optimism, and hold out the hope of
social reconciliation; yet at the same time it could
subversively celebrate individual autonomy at the
expense of social and moral concerns, and transform
reality through ironic perspectives or grotesque
forms. Edgeworth used the humorous character for
didactic social purposes in her Irish novels; Scott,
however, made his humorous characters the main
imaginative embodiments of the social themes of his
Scottish novels, maintaining a balance between
didactic function and individual idiosyncrasy, a
balance sustained by Galt in his novels about local
history. But sceptical tendencies appeared: Austen
warned that the humorous character was a threat to
social order; Peacock's humorous characters were
finally overwhelmed by a rancorous satirical spirit;
and in Don Ju an, Byron used a version of Romantic
Irony to undermine moral assertion. Romantic
theories of humour were untouched by any taint of
scepticism; such theories stressed the moral
function of the humorous sensibility, seeing it as
a genial and reconciling force based on love for
mankind (the subversive power of the grotesque
mode was viewed with suspicion); and Sartor Resartus
embodied the highest moral and metaphysical
possibilities of the humorous imagination. Beyond
this, however, Thackeray's development of ironical
perspectives further undermiined humour's positive
and optimistic tendencies; and in Dickens's early
novels there is a profound tension between the
moral and social tendencies of the humour, and the
increasingly anarchic, grotesque directions it
takes. Eliot rejected the egotistical, ironic . and
grotesque possibilities of humour, instead seeing
moral improvement and social reconciliation as a
matter of coming to terms with unattractive reality.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PR English literature
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	English wit and humor -- History -- 19th century, English fiction -- History -- 19th century, Humor in literature -- History -- 19th century
Official Date:	May 1976
Dates:	Date Event May 1976 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Williams, Ioan M.
Extent:	v, 395 p.
Language:	eng

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