On Farting
Subtitle: Language and Laughter in the Middle Ages (The New Middle Ages)
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: December 26, 2006
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 256
ISBN-13: 9780312234935
Subjects: Literary studies: classical, early & medieval; Social history; c 1000 CE to c 1500; c 500 CE to c 1000 CE; History; Archaeology / Anthropology; History: World; Anthropology - Cultural; Medieval; Social Science / Anthropology / General; Anthropology - General; Flatlulence; Flatulence; Flatulence in literature; Social aspects
Description: "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 past to historical rationalization. Roland moons at us across the centuries, deflating our attempts to become one flesh with the past, and placing laughter at the heart of knowing."--Jacket.