Satire, History, Novel: Narrative Forms, 1665-1815

Narrative satire was one of the dominant literary forms of the 18th century, but it came to be displaced by novelistic and historical forms of narrative. Palmeri (English, U. of Miami) argues that these new forms defined themselves in opposition to satire, but also by appropriating elements of satire. Satire, in his formulation, is defined by its tendency to set up two oppositional forms. The later forms of narrative were able to find moderating positions and mediating characters that allowed for stronger senses of closure than satire. Distributed by Associated University Presses. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR