On Farting: Language and Laughter in the Middle Ages

by Valerie Allen

Book Overview

This book presents waste as an aesthetic category that introduces an arsy-versy world where detritus is precious. This aesthetic is applied in the second part to etymology, poking through the "paternal dungheaps" of words, and tracing their origins not to Eden but to Babel, puns, and word play. Finally, in the case of Roland the Farter, who performed annually a jump, whistle, and fart before the king of England, we encounter the resistance of the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0230100392
• ISBN13: 9780230100398
• Release Date: May 2010
• Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
• Length: 239 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.6"