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 p...

Toooften, cultural leaders and policy makers want to chase the perfect metric foractivities whose real worth lies in our own personal experience. The majorproblem facing Australian culture today is demonstrating its value togovernments, the business sector, and the public in general.When didculture become a number? When did the books, paintings, poems, plays, songs,films, games, art installations, clothes, and the objects that fill our dailylives become a matter of statistical meas...

This book explores ways in which passions came to be conceived, performed and authenticated in the eighteenth-century marketplace of print. It considers satire and sympathy in various environments, ranging from popular novels and journalism, through philosophical studies of the Scottish Enlightenment, to last words, aesthetics, and plastic surgery.