"A bull is a ludicrous jest": fable and the satiric bite in Arbuthnot's John Bull pamphlets
-
Jo Poppleton
Abstract
Historians interpret Arbuthnot’s John Bull pamphlets as a satire on the 1712 crisis of the Spanish Succession, and contend that the pamphlets function as satire because they borrow from the genre of fable. This generic borrowing, historians argue, works to attack specific targets – here, the Dutch and the English Whig party. Literary critics, however, in contrast to historians, doubt whether satire’s dependence on other genres functions so straightforwardly. This chapter reads the John Bull pamphlets in the light of recent theory about satire’s rhetorical instability, and demonstrates that Arbuthnot’s imitation of fable works not as a reliable indicator of his political allegiances, but rather as a means to trick and thereby admonish his readership.
Abstract
Historians interpret Arbuthnot’s John Bull pamphlets as a satire on the 1712 crisis of the Spanish Succession, and contend that the pamphlets function as satire because they borrow from the genre of fable. This generic borrowing, historians argue, works to attack specific targets – here, the Dutch and the English Whig party. Literary critics, however, in contrast to historians, doubt whether satire’s dependence on other genres functions so straightforwardly. This chapter reads the John Bull pamphlets in the light of recent theory about satire’s rhetorical instability, and demonstrates that Arbuthnot’s imitation of fable works not as a reliable indicator of his political allegiances, but rather as a means to trick and thereby admonish his readership.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- About the contributors ix
- Introduction 1
-
Mapping the Field
- Satire and dignity 19
- The Authenticity of Play 33
- Cultural Flow 47
-
Space
- Reshaping the Border Zone. An Approach to Satirical Space 61
- Mediating satire 71
- Arab Sitcom Animations as Platforms for Satire 81
-
Target
- Contesting Political Boundaries in Contemporary Moroccan Satire 95
- How to Burlesque a Burlesquer 105
- Who is the ape, who the human? Reize door het Aapenland (1788) and Die Affenkönige oder die Reformation des Affenlandes (1789) considered 135
-
Rhetoric
- Looking backward. The rhetoric of the back in visual satire 147
- "A bull is a ludicrous jest": fable and the satiric bite in Arbuthnot's John Bull pamphlets 175
- Bas Jan Ader's Ludic Conceptualism 185
-
Media
- Absolutely Fabulous 197
- TV Satire and its Targets 207
- Enlightenment Subverted 217
-
Time
- On the power of Money and the King of Spain's son-in- law 235
- Who are the Frogs? The Transmigration of a Symbol of Nationality 247
- Hydropathe Caricature 259
- Conclusions 269
- Index 275
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- About the contributors ix
- Introduction 1
-
Mapping the Field
- Satire and dignity 19
- The Authenticity of Play 33
- Cultural Flow 47
-
Space
- Reshaping the Border Zone. An Approach to Satirical Space 61
- Mediating satire 71
- Arab Sitcom Animations as Platforms for Satire 81
-
Target
- Contesting Political Boundaries in Contemporary Moroccan Satire 95
- How to Burlesque a Burlesquer 105
- Who is the ape, who the human? Reize door het Aapenland (1788) and Die Affenkönige oder die Reformation des Affenlandes (1789) considered 135
-
Rhetoric
- Looking backward. The rhetoric of the back in visual satire 147
- "A bull is a ludicrous jest": fable and the satiric bite in Arbuthnot's John Bull pamphlets 175
- Bas Jan Ader's Ludic Conceptualism 185
-
Media
- Absolutely Fabulous 197
- TV Satire and its Targets 207
- Enlightenment Subverted 217
-
Time
- On the power of Money and the King of Spain's son-in- law 235
- Who are the Frogs? The Transmigration of a Symbol of Nationality 247
- Hydropathe Caricature 259
- Conclusions 269
- Index 275
