Satire and the Public Emotions

Download or read book Satire and the Public Emotions written by Robert Phiddian and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-02-02 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dream of political satire - to fearlessly speak truth to power - is not matched by its actual effects. This study explores the role of satirical communication in licensing public expression of harsh emotions defined in neuroscience as the CAD (contempt, anger, disgust) triad. The mobilisation of these emotions is a fundamental distinction between satirical and comic laughter. Phiddian pursues this argument particularly through an account of Jonathan Swift and his contemporaries. They played a crucial role in the early eighteenth century to make space in the public sphere for intemperate dissent, an essential condition of free political expression.