Between Two Stools

Peter J. Smith

ISBN 10: 0719087945 / ISBN 13: 9780719087943

Published by Manchester University Press, GB, 2012

About this Item

Between two stools investigates the representation of scatology - humorous, carnivalesque, satirical, damning and otherwise - in English literature from the middle ages to the eighteenth century. Smith contends that the 'two stools' stand for two broadly distinctive attitudes towards scatology. The first is a carnivalesque, merry, even hearty disposition, typified by the writings of Chaucer and Shakespeare. The second is self-disgust, an attitude characterised by withering misanthropy and hypochondria. Smith demonstrates how the combination of high and low cultures manifests the capacity to run canonical and carnivalesque together so that sanctioned and civilised artefacts and scatological humour frequently co-exist in the works under discussion, evidence of an earlier culture's aptitude (now lost) to occupy a position between two stools. Of interest to cultural and literary historians, this ground-breaking study testifies to the arrival of scatology as an academic subject, at the same time recognising that it remains if not outside, then at least at the margins of conventional scholarship.

Seller Inventory # LU-9780719087943

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Between Two Stools
• Publisher: Manchester University Press, GB
• Publication Date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0719087945
• ISBN 13: 9780719087943
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 540 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Between two stools investigates the representation of scatology – humorous, carnivalesque, satirical, damning and otherwise – in English literature from the middle ages to the eighteenth century.

Smith contends that the ‘two stools’ stand for two broadly distinctive attitudes towards scatology. The first is a carnivalesque, merry, even hearty disposition, typified by the writings of Chaucer and Shakespeare. The second is self-disgust, an attitude characterised by withering misanthropy and hypochondria. Smith demonstrates how the combination of high and low cultures manifests the capacity to run canonical and carnivalesque together so that sanctioned and civilised artefacts and scatological humour frequently co-exist in the works under discussion, evidence of an earlier culture’s aptitude (now lost) to occupy a position between two stools.

Of interest to cultural and literary historians, this ground-breaking study testifies to the arrival of scatology as an academic subject, at the same time recognising that it remains if not outside, then at least at the margins of conventional scholarship.

About the Author

Peter J. Smith is Reader in Renaissance Literature, Nottingham Trent University