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Arguments of Augustan Wit

Arguments of Augustan Wit - Cambridge Studies in Eighteenth-Century English Literature and Thought

Paperback (29 Nov 2007)

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Publisher's Synopsis

Comic and satiric literature from the 1670s to the 1740s is characterized by the allusive and elusive word play of Augustan wit. The arguments of Augustan wit reveal preoccupations with the metaphorical dimension of language so distrusted by Locke and others who saw it as fundamentally opposed to the rational mode of judgement. John Sitter makes a challenging claim for the importance of wit in the writings of Dryden, Rochester, Prior, Berkeley, Gay, Pope and Swift, as an analytic mode as well as one of stylistic sophistication. He argues that wit - often regarded by modern critics as a quaint category of verbal cleverness - in fact offers to literary theory a legacy corrective of Romantic and neo-Romantic idealizations of imagination. This study aims at once to emphasize the historical specificity of Augustan writing, and to bring its arguments into dialogue with those of our time.

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Cambridge University Press

Cambridge University Press dates from 1534 and is part of the University of Cambridge. We further the University's mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

Book information

ISBN: 9780521044554
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Pub date:
DEWEY: 820.5009
DEWEY edition: 20
Language: English
Number of pages: 321
Weight: 317g
Height: 227mm
Width: 157mm
Spine width: 11mm