This collection of twenty-nine original essays surveys satire from its emergence in Western literature to the present.

The Companion is extraordinary in its historical scope, tracking satire from its first appearances in the prophetic books of the Old Testament through the Renaissance and the English tradition in satire to Michael Moore's satirical movie Fahrenheit 9/11. While many essays explore literary developments in satire from an historical view, other essays reflect directly on topics such as irony and satire, modes of satirical mockery, the mock-biblical, and the character sketch.

All of the contributors are experts published in their field, and all are experienced teachers who can treat complex and rich subjects with insight and clarity.

Ruben Quintero is Professor of English at California State University, Los Angeles, and teaches Restoration and eighteenth-century literature. His book Literate Culture: Pope's Rhetorical Art (1992) received a University of Delaware Press Manuscript Award.

Illustrations viii

Notes on Contributors ix

Acknowledgments xiv

Introduction: Understanding Satire 1
Ruben Quintero

Part I Biblical World to European Renaissance 13

1 Ancient Biblical Satire 15
Thomas Jemielity

2 Defining the Art of Blame: Classical Satire 31
Catherine Keane

3 Medieval Satire 52
Laura Kendrick

4 Rabelais and French Renaissance Satire 70
Edwin M. Duval

5 Satire of the Spanish Golden Age 86
Alberta Gatti

6 Verse Satire in the English Renaissance 101
Ejner J. Jensen

7 Renaissance Prose Satire: Italy and England 118
W. Scott Blanchard

Part II Restoration and Eighteenth-century England and France 137

8 Satire in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-century France 139
Russell Goulbourne

9 Dramatic Satire in the Restoration and Eighteenth Century 161
Jean I. Marsden

10 Dryden and Restoration Satire 176
Dustin Griffin

11 Jonathan Swift 196
Frank Boyle

12 Pope and Augustan Verse Satire 212
Ruben Quintero

13 Satiric Spirits of the Later Eighteenth Century: Johnson to Crabbe 233
James Engell

14 Restoration and Eighteenth-century Satiric Fiction 257
Joseph F. Bartolomeo

15 Gendering Satire: Behn to Burney 276
Claudia Thomas Kairoff

16 Pictorial Satire: From Emblem to Expression 293
Ronald Paulson

Part III Nineteenth Century to Contemporary 325

17 The Hidden Agenda of Romantic Satire: Carlyle and Heine 327
Peter Brier

18 Nineteenth-century Satiric Poetry 340
Steven E. Jones

19 Narrative Satire in the Nineteenth Century 361
Frank Palmeri

20 American Satire: Beginnings through Mark Twain 377
Linda A. Morris

21 Twentieth-century Fictional Satire 400
Valentine Cunningham

22 Verse Satire in the Twentieth Century 434
Timothy Steele

23 Satire in Modern and Contemporary Theater 460
Christopher J. Herr

24 Irish Satire 476
Jose Lanters

Part IV The Practice of Satire 493

25 Modes of Mockery: The Significance of Mock-poetic Forms in the Enlightenment 495
Blanford Parker

26 Irony and Satire 510
Zoja Pavlovskis-Petit

27 Mock-biblical Satire from Medieval to Modern 525
Michael F. Suarez

28 The Satiric Character Sketch 550
David F. Venturo

29 The Secret Life of Satire 568
Melinda Alliker Rabb

Index 585