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A Discourse Concerning Ridicule and Irony in Writing
Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
112 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1729
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July 6, 2022
With apologies to Shakespeare’s Hamlet and author Anthony Collin, A Discourse Concerning Ridicule and Irony in Writing (kindle Edition) sums out as a bit much. The writing style is almost modern in its directness and his case is built in a manner systematic and exhaustive. It is just a bit to exhaustive.
Anthony Collins spent his adult a free thinker and deist. He was known for his published correspondence with many of the religious leadership of England at a time when these same people could have used their position to have him jailed on moral grounds by the public censor. This discourse written just before his death in 1729 was a public reply to Anglican Reverend Dr. Nathanael Marshall. Dr, Marshal having been a target of Mr. Collins’ irony and ridicule was of the opinion that Collins should be so treated. The Reverend wanted the power of law behind his feeling that serious writing about established religion was allowable, overtly humorous or disrespectful speech should be actionable.
Charlie Hebdo for the 18th Century Christian.
The Discourse builds its argument for the case for free speech in a logical way to name all of those who speaking in the name of more traditional religions have used the same techniques he is under threat for using. Collins notes that the same people attacking his use of irony have themselves used it on him and each other. Further he has quotations from secondary sources listed by his targets in justification of the complainants writing and how prior and more senior Christian authors have used it in the past.
A rather elaborate web of “You do it too” and so did the writers you claim to respect. Or given the religious nature of this defense, “Let he who is without sin…”
The discourse is quite convincing just too much so. It does have some examples of humor, more so towards the end but…
It is possible that Collins felt genuinely threatened, or was conscious of the nearness of hisown death and so felt the need for an exhaustive argument. It may also be that a modern reader might find themselves in greater sympathy with his case than the writer had experienced in his lifetime. I did not need this much convincing.
Given the contemporary problems of on-line bullies, internet trolls and a general lack of respect in public and political discourse, one wonders if a contemporary Collins would rather offer a defense of civility?
Anthony Collins spent his adult a free thinker and deist. He was known for his published correspondence with many of the religious leadership of England at a time when these same people could have used their position to have him jailed on moral grounds by the public censor. This discourse written just before his death in 1729 was a public reply to Anglican Reverend Dr. Nathanael Marshall. Dr, Marshal having been a target of Mr. Collins’ irony and ridicule was of the opinion that Collins should be so treated. The Reverend wanted the power of law behind his feeling that serious writing about established religion was allowable, overtly humorous or disrespectful speech should be actionable.
Charlie Hebdo for the 18th Century Christian.
The Discourse builds its argument for the case for free speech in a logical way to name all of those who speaking in the name of more traditional religions have used the same techniques he is under threat for using. Collins notes that the same people attacking his use of irony have themselves used it on him and each other. Further he has quotations from secondary sources listed by his targets in justification of the complainants writing and how prior and more senior Christian authors have used it in the past.
A rather elaborate web of “You do it too” and so did the writers you claim to respect. Or given the religious nature of this defense, “Let he who is without sin…”
The discourse is quite convincing just too much so. It does have some examples of humor, more so towards the end but…
It is possible that Collins felt genuinely threatened, or was conscious of the nearness of hisown death and so felt the need for an exhaustive argument. It may also be that a modern reader might find themselves in greater sympathy with his case than the writer had experienced in his lifetime. I did not need this much convincing.
Given the contemporary problems of on-line bullies, internet trolls and a general lack of respect in public and political discourse, one wonders if a contemporary Collins would rather offer a defense of civility?
Displaying 1 of 1 review