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Chapter II

THE REALISTIC

Character of Victorian realism. Nature of realistic satire. Subdivisions,
based on authors' methods and devices. The direct or didactic
satirists: Lytton, Thackeray, Dickens, Meredith. Satire in plot or situation:
Martin Chuzzlewit, Vanity Fair, The Egoist. Minor episodes. Satire expressed by witty characters, of various types 84 Chapter III THE IRONIC Verbal and philosophic irony. Banter and sarcasm. The Irony of Fate. Relation of irony to satire. Differing opinions. Distribution of irony among the novelists. Direct or verbal: present in varying degrees in practically all. Crystallized and pervasive forms. Irony in circumstance: Trollope, Eliot, and Meredith. Subdivisions: dramatic irony; the reversed wheel of fortune, the granted desire; the lost opportunity. Meredithian irony directed against the ironic interpretation of life 121 PART III

OBJECTS


Chapter I

INDIVIDUALS

Personalities the original and primitive element in satire. Effect of this
influence upon the satiric product, and of this in turn upon the attitude
toward satire. Citations. In fiction no hard and fast line between real and
imaginary characters. Lack of personal satire among the novelists. Its
prevalence limited to the earlier writers: Peacock, Lytton, Disraeli, and
Thackeray before 1850 167


Chapter II

INSTITUTIONS

Victorian attitude toward established institutions. Satire directed
against the following: Society, including the home, woman, marriage; the
State, including politics, sociology, law, charities and corrections, war; the
Church, treated both by partisans on the inside, and pagans on the outside;
the School, signifying education, from the fireside to the college; Literature