Between Two Stools : Scatology and Its Representations in English Literature, Chaucer to Swift

This book investigates the representation of scatology (humorous, carnivalesque, satirical, damning and otherwise) in English literature from the middle ages to the eighteenth century. 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. The book demonstrates how the combination of high and low cultures manifests the capacity to run canonical and carnivalesque together. This makes 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. The book considers the history of bowdlerisation of Chaucer's fabliaux and reflects upon the current state of scatological commentary. 'Innocent scatology', characteristic of English literature of the mid-1650s, is contrasted with the caustic and malevolent obscenity in that composed following the Restoration. Just as in The Miller's Tale, the fart, in 'the bum-centred comedy' of The Summoner's Tale, is a long time coming. Cavalier scatology is infused with a political specificity which is less pronounced in that of the earlier period. The common characteristic of most examples of Shakespearean onomastic bawdy is their localised essence. The relationship between anality and sexuality, central to the work of Rochester and of essential importance to Freudian theory, is explored in one of Jonathan Swift's comically excremental poems, 'Strephon and Chloe'. Now available in paperback, 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. Front matter Dedication Epigraph Contents List of illustrations Preface Acknowledgements Introduction Turning the other cheek: scatology and its discontents in The Miller’s Tale and The Summoner’s Tale Ajax by any other name would smell as sweet: Shakespeare, Harington and onomastic scatology M.O.A.I. ‘What should that alphabetical position portend?’: Shakespeare, Harington, Reynolds and the metamorphosis of scatology Cavalier scatology between two stools: Rochester, Mennes, Pepys, Urquhart and the sense of dis-ordure Swift’s shit: poetic traditions and satiric effects A palpable shit: topology, religion and science Bibliography Index An engaging and lively tour through the scatological, the flatulent and the cloacal in English literature over four centuries. -- .