Springs of Liberty: The Satiric Tradition and Freedom of Speech FROM THE PUBLISHER
The Springs of Liberty takes up questions of literary history and theory and explores sources of power harnessed by modern political doctrines and the journalism that conveys them to the public. These forces of opinion are traced to a tradition deeper and older than either: satire. In that tradition--its power, diversity, and license--the author locates the spirit of free speech.
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
Justman (English, Univ. of Montana; The Psychological Mystique) examines the genre of satire (from its classical origins to the 20th century), arguing that this form of literature led to modern journalism and political thought (e.g., Marxism). Devoting individual chapters to satirists such as Chaucer, Addison, Swift, Austen, Dickens, Trollope, Joyce, and Orwell, he examines the two different strains of satire--the refined and civilized line and the rougher, more vulgar one. Justman has taken on an ambitious project, and while some of his individual readings are brilliantly explicated, others are too brief and convoluted to support his main thesis. Among other things, he relies too often on the literary theories of the Russian critic M.M. Bakhtin, which he reiterates in most of his chapters. For upper-level and graduate collections only.--Morris Hounion, New York City Technical Coll. Lib., Brooklyn Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
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