Mock Ritual in the Modern Era [Hardcover]

Mock Ritual in the Modern Eraexplores the complex interrelations between ritual and mockery. McGinnis and Smyth trace the evolution of mock ritual' in various forms throughout the modern era, as found in literary, historical, and anthropological texts as well as encyclopedias, newspapers, and films.Mock Ritual in the Modern Eraexplores the complex interrelations between ritual and mockery, the latter of which is not infrequently the unofficial face of claims to rationality. McGinnis and Smyth consider how the mocking and parodying of ritual often associated with modern rationalism may itself become ritualized, and other ways in which supposedly sham ritual may survive its outing. This volume traces the evolution of mock ritual in various forms throughout the modern era, as found in literary, historical, and anthropological texts as well as encyclopedias, newspapers, and films.Mock Ritual in the Modern Eraplaces famous eighteenth- and nineteenth-century authors in dialogue with contemporary popular culture, from Diderot, Sterne, and Flaubert to the TV showsSurvivorandJudge Judy, and from Voltaire to theCharlie Hebdotragedy of 2015. Ritualistic and mock ritualistic aspects of comedy and ridicule are considered along with those, notably, of sexuality, medicine, art, education, and justice.Introduction1.Ridicule2. Mock Ritual in Diderot and d'Alembert'sEncyclopedia3. Mocking Priests inTristram ShandyandJacques le fataliste4. Mock Ritual and the Emergence of Objectivity inMadame Bovary5. Mock Ritual and Medicine in Flaubert'sDictionary of Received Ideas6. The Duel as Privatized Mock Ritual7.Charlie Hebdo: The Ambivalence of MockerySummationConcluding Unscientific PostscriptBibliographyIndexReginald McGinnisis Professor of French at the University of Arizona. He is the author of Essai sur l'origine de la mystificationand coedil“: