The thesis examines the cultural and political significance of the formal and stylistic strategies in the work of Jonathan Swift; particularly the early prose satire A Tale of a Tub. Given his Irish origins and the largely colonial basis of England's relationship with Ireland, Swift's aesthetic strategies are shown to offer a mode of aesthetic resistance to, and interrogation of, English colonialism. In a rapidly modernising, secularising England national identity and social cohesion were being increasingly galvanised through an aesthetic ideology that emphasised the function of the aesthetic as that which can present a model of integration and shared values. Swift, drawing upon his experience of an Ireland socially fragmented by colonialism, emphasises the simultaneous, if contradictory, function of the aesthetic as the domain of the subjective imagination. An extreme wit, feared by Locke as that which will cause the individual subject to forget his or her social responsibilities, itself fragments society by encouraging the individual to inhabit an interiorised world of irrational associations. Swift, ostensibly satirising such behaviour in the Tale in the name of an English nationalism, actually allows the logic of such an extreme wit to dominate. Thus, he utilises what Vivian Mercier has shown to be the modes of traditional Irish literature, while simultaneously engaging with the (colonising, commercialising) ramifications of England's emergence into modernity. In the first, introductory chapter I explain, with reference to Swift's early life and work and to the critical work that already exists on Swift, why this thesis is a necessary addition to such a body of criticism. Chapter Two constitutes a closer examination of the Tale, the strategies of which are illuminated by a comparison with other works from the Anglo-Irish tradition: Burke, Swift's eighteenth-century Dublin biographers, the political economy of Sir Francis Brewster. Chapter Three turns to Swift's attempts to conform to English social and cultural modes in the first half of his career, particularly in The Examiner of 1710-11. The thesis returns to the idea of Swift as an Irish literary subverter in Chapter Four, this time by looking at the way the Tale and its companionpiece The Battle of the Books employ a form of 'extreme' allegory described by Walter Benjamin as essentially baroque in origin, and so able to adopt a critical position towards the early enlightenment principles of Swift's mentor and patron, Sir William Temple. Given that the category of the modem aesthetic emerges conceptually as a product of the enlightenment, Chapter Five examines Swift's work in the context of subsequent European enlightenment thinkers Kant and Herder, showing how Swift can be said to mediate their respective positions. The thesis concludes by arguing for Swift as, ultimately, a champion of reason; and goes on to point towards how Swift's aesthetic critique has resonances for our own contemporary situation: namely, how his early satirising of modem astrology is an early recognition of the unreason inherent in mass culture.

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STANDUP COMEDY AS ARTISTIC EXPRESSION: LENNY BRUCE, THE 1950s, AND AMERICAN HUMOR by ANDREA SHANNON PRUSSING-HOLLOWELL Under the Direction of Michelle Brattain ABSTRACT Despite the common memory of the 1950s being an intolerant, conformist decade, many “underground” cultures developed and thrived in response to America’s homogenized national culture. Lenny Bruce was immersed within these cultures, using standup comedy as a vehicle to express his and his audiences’ disillusionment. This thesis aims to place Bruce back in his original context of the 1950s in order to understand why the 1960s youth embraced him as their own. By examining the 1950s underground, the history of standup comedy, and Bruce’s comedy, the 1950s youth emerge as an important precursor to the 1960s social movements, and Bruce’s martyrdom as a free speech crusader becomes more understandable and tragic. INDEX WORDS: Lenny Bruce, Standup comedy, 1950s, Humor, Beats, Obscenity, Free speech, Satire

The thesis represents the most extensive study yet made of the life and works of one of the most neglected authors of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. In its introduction it provides a review of King's critical reception up to the present day, beginning with the comments of some of the Scriblerians and his eighteenth-century editors and biographers. The thesis proper is divided into two sections, the first of which is concerned with King's life and opinions, and is in turn separated into two chapters. Chapter One is a biography, and not only establishes the facts of King's life, but seeks to place him firmly in his historical and ideological context. The conclusion drawn from this is that King remained committed to the high Anglican/Tory ideology of rank and authority throughout his life, and that these values had a major bearing on everything he did and wrote. The second chapter looks in more detail at King's cultural milieu and the relationship between his ideological standpoint and his views on learning, particularly in terms of the ideal of the 'gentleman scholar'. The second half of the chapter is devoted to a reconsideration of the relationship between science and Humanism and the high Anglican attitude towards Baconianism, which is aimed at dispelling the common notion that King's thee-political conservatism necessarily led him to oppose science per se. A close study of his serious, non-ironic writings, most notably the Heathen Gods and the Adversaria (a loose collection of observations which to date have been neglected) confirms that King was both a disciple of late Renaissance Christian Humanism and an advocate of the 'high' Baconianism associated with the Anglican Church. The second part deals with King's work as a Menippean satirist, and begins with a definition and review of the chief classical and Renaissance exponents of this ancient genre (sometimes known as 'the tradition of learned wit'), before turning to the analysis of a number of King's prosimetric and poetic parodies, travesties and mock-heroics. Chapter Four looks at King's controversial writings and political pamphlets, concentrating on his use of irony and burlesque as weapons against a number of thee-political enemies. The last three chapters are devoted respectively to King's finest works - his satires on Richard Bentley, Martin Lister, and Hans Sloane - and again consider these pieces in terms of the adaptation of the Menippean genre for the purposes of elaborate parody and occasional satire. At the same time, the meaning of King's parodies is shown to extend beyond merely personal attack to a serio-comic defence of traditional values in respect of scholarship, literature and more broadly social issues. By their exceptionally witty ridicule of abuses of philological and scientific learning, they implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) endorse the intellectual and cultural ideals of late Renaissance Humanism and high Baconianism. The final contention is that while his burlesques are seriously limited by their topicality, they are sufficiently sophisticated and amusing to entitle him to an important place in the tradition of Menippean satire. The thesis also contains four appendices dealing with King's involvement in The Examiner, the question of his authorship of A Vindication of the Reverend Dr Henry Sacheverell, some unpublished manuscripts attributed to him, and a manuscript of a nineteenth-century essay on his life and works.

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This thesis combines a play, Getting Betterer all the Time, a satire about self-help, and an exegesis examining the possibilities that self-help offers for satire and why. The self-help industry has evolved into a massive social and economical phenomenon. The scope of self-help is constantly expanding, indicating a society of individuals desperate for help in all facets of life. As this movement has become more prevalent, self-help has attracted criticism for the way it thrives on the exploitation of people's insecurities. By playing to people's aspirations, many self-help practitioners have become wealthy, but there is a danger that some self-help products can have a harmful effect on people, and at best give rise to an insufferable hubris. Consequently, we have witnessed a rise in popular texts that spoof the self-help industry. The excesses of the self-help industry make it an easy target for satire. Self-help is well matched to satire's function to provide social commentary by ridicule of targets causing harm to the well-being of society. Self-help is an appropriate subject for satire because of its focus on social behavior such as modern parenting, consumerism and status anxiety. Self-help, in addition to providing these opportunities for social commentary, also offers much comedic potential.

This exegesis covers a period of research and art practice spanning from 2004 to 2007. I have combined visual arts with theoretical research practice that considers the notion of Australian colonialism via a post colonial construct. I have questioned how visual arts can convey various conditions relationships between settler and Indigenous cultures and in doing so have drawn on both personal art practice and the works of Australian artists of the 19th and 20th centuries. These references demonstrate an ongoing examination of black and white relations portrayed in art, ranging from the drawings of convict artist, Joseph Lycett, through to the post federation stance of Margaret Preston, whose works expressed a renewal of interest in Indigenous culture. In applying a research approach, I have utilised a Narrative Enquiry methodology with a comparative paradigm within a Creative Research framework, which allows for various interpretations of my themes through both text and visuals. These applications also express a personal view that has been formed from family and workplace experiences. These include cultural influences from my settler family history and settler historical events in general juxtaposed with an accumulated knowledge base that has evolved from my personal and professional experience within Indigenous arts and education. I have also cited examples from Australian colonial and postcolonial art and literature that have influenced the development of my visual language. These include applying stylistic approaches that incorporate various artistic aspects of figuration and the Picturesque and literal thematic mode based on satire and social commentary. Overall, my research work also expresses an ongoing and evolving process that has been guided and influenced by current Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian postcolonial critical thinking and arts criticism, assisting within the development of my personal views and philosophies .This process has supported the formation of a belief system that I believe has matured throughout my research and art practices, providing a personal confidence to assert my own analytical stance on colonial history.

Zugl.: Bonn, Univ., Diss., 2006

Thesis--Ohio State University. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 135-136).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago. / "Bibliographie": p. v-x. Includes bibliographical references and index.