Pure Filth: Ethics, Politics, and Religion in Early French Farce

Early French farce has been dismissed as filth, but Noah D. Guynn's book "Pure Filth" reveals that it contains finely drawn, and sometimes quite radical, perspectives on ethics, politics, and religion. It uses comic theater tools such as parody, satire, imitation, exaggeration, cross-dressing, and masquerade to address urgent issues such as economic inequality, authoritarian rule, social justice, ethical renewal, sacramental devotion, and heterosocial relations. Farce reveals that aspirations to purity are inevitably mired in the very filth they repudiate.

Format: Hardback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 19 February 2022
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

For centuries, early French farce has been unfairly dismissed as mere filth. Renaissance humanists, classical moralists, and Enlightenment philosophers have belittled it as an embarrassing reminder of the vulgarity of medieval popular culture. Modern literary critics and theater historians often view it as comedy's poor relation—trite, smutty pap that served to divert the masses and to inure them to lives of subservience. However, as Noah D. Guynn demonstrates in his reexamination of the genre, the superficial crudeness and predictability of farce belie the complexities of its signifying and performance practices and the dynamic, contested nature of its field of reception.

Pure Filth delves into overlooked and obscured content in farce, arguing that seemingly coarse jokes conceal finely drawn, and sometimes quite radical, perspectives on ethics, politics, and religion. Engaging with cultural history, political anthropology, and critical, feminist, and queer theory, Guynn shows that farce does not pander to the rabble in order to cultivate acquiescence or curb dissent. Rather, it uses the tools of comic theater—parody and satire, imitation and exaggeration, cross-dressing and masquerade—to address the urgent issues its spectators faced in their everyday lives: economic inequality and authoritarian rule, social justice and ethical renewal, sacramental devotion and sacerdotal corruption, and heterosocial relations and household politics. Achieving its subtlest effects by employing the lewdest forms of humor, farce reveals that aspirations to purity, whether ethical, political, or religious, are inevitably mired in the very filth they repudiate.

Early French farce has been subjected to a long-standing disdain, with its reputation often being reduced to mere filth. Renaissance humanists, classical moralists, and Enlightenment philosophers have scorned it as an embarrassing reminder of the vulgarity of medieval popular culture. Modern literary critics and theater historians have frequently viewed it as comedy's inferior counterpart—a trite, smutty form of entertainment that served to divert the masses and to dull their senses to lives of subservience. However, as Noah D. Guynn reveals in his comprehensive reevaluation of the genre, the superficial crudeness and predictability of farce conceal the intricate complexities of its signifying and performance practices, as well as the dynamic and contested nature of its field of reception.

Pure Filth focuses on the overlooked and obscured content within farce, contending that seemingly crude jokes conceal finely crafted, and occasionally quite radical, perspectives on ethics, politics, and religion. By engaging with cultural history, political anthropology, and critical, feminist, and queer theory, Guynn demonstrates that farce does not cater to the masses in order to induce acquiescence or suppress dissent. Instead, it employs the tools of comic theater—parody and satire, imitation and exaggeration, cross-dressing and masquerade—to address the pressing issues that its spectators encountered in their daily lives: economic inequality and authoritarian rule, social justice and ethical renewal, sacramental devotion and sacerdotal corruption, and heterosocial relations and household politics. By employing the lewdest forms of humor, farce achieves its subtlest effects, revealing that aspirations to purity, whether ethical, political, or religious, are inevitably entangled in the very filth they seek to repudiate.

Early French farce has faced a persistent disdain throughout history, with its reputation often being reduced to mere filth. Renaissance humanists, classical moralists, and Enlightenment philosophers have scorned it as an embarrassing reminder of the vulgarity of medieval popular culture. Modern literary critics and theater historians have frequently viewed it as comedy's inferior counterpart—a trite, smutty form of entertainment that served to divert the masses and to dull their senses to lives of subservience. However, as Noah D. Guynn reveals in his comprehensive reevaluation of the genre, the superficial crudeness and predictability of farce conceal the intricate complexities of its signifying and performance practices, as well as the dynamic and contested nature of its field of reception.

Pure Filth delves into the overlooked and obscured content within farce, arguing that seemingly crude jokes conceal finely crafted, and occasionally quite radical, perspectives on ethics, politics, and religion. By engaging with cultural history, political anthropology, and critical, feminist, and queer theory, Guynn demonstrates that farce does not cater to the masses in order to induce acquiescence or suppress dissent. Instead, it employs the tools of comic theater—parody and satire, imitation and exaggeration, cross-dressing and masquerade—to address the pressing issues that its spectators encountered in their daily lives: economic inequality and authoritarian rule, social justice and ethical renewal, sacramental devotion and sacerdotal corruption, and heterosocial relations and household politics. By employing the lewdest forms of humor, farce achieves its subtlest effects, revealing that aspirations to purity, whether ethical, political, or religious, are inevitably entangled in the very filth they seek to repudiate.

Weight: 155g
Dimension: 292 x 216 x 5 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780812251685