{"product_id":"comic-belles-lettres-james-e-caron-9780807186121","title":"Comic Belles Lettres: Genealogies of Humor and Satire in Anglo-American Literature, 1711-1856","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eComic Belles Lettres\u003c\/i\u003e presents a significant rethinking of standard categories in scholarship on antebellum American humor--such as Old Southwest humorists and literary comedians--to provide a richer analysis of the comic writers of the period. By introducing an alternative aesthetic category, \"comic belles lettres,\" and placing it in a transnational context, James E. Caron details a robust cross-cultural background that includes British and American conceptions of masculinity, the eighteenth-century cult of sensibility, and the \"man of feeling\" trope. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eCaron's analysis uncovers a genealogy of comic characters with fresh readings of Washington Irving's \u003ci\u003eSketch Book, \u003c\/i\u003e Nathaniel Hawthorne's \u003ci\u003eThe Blithedale Romance, \u003c\/i\u003e and Harriet Beecher Stowe's \u003ci\u003eUncle Tom's Cabin\u003c\/i\u003e that not only sweeps up other contemporary authors--Donald Mitchell and Frederic Cozzens--but also includes Joseph Addison's famous character Sir Roger de Coverly. In addition, the investigation moves beyond fictional texts to demonstrate the reach of comic belles lettres by discussing two well-known historical figures, Lewis Gaylord Clark and William Thackeray, who embody the aesthetic's signature figure, the Comic Gentleman. This segment delves into contemporary statements about the nature of comic art and comic laughter along with gendered concerns about the production of satire. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eComic Belles Lettres\u003c\/i\u003e situates this unique mode of aesthetics within discursive practices of the 1850s--reviews, essays, and editorial decisions--that constitute important yet routinely overlooked aspects of the antebellum print archive, resulting in a new way of thinking about Anglo-American comic writing in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e James E. Caron\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0807186120\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780807186121\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e LSU Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/23\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 352\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover","brand":"James E. Caron","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":47965520527615,"sku":"9780807186121","price":55.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_ff3145e3-a8a2-4aa4-9dbe-04e2d068f486.jpg?v=1767281123","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/comic-belles-lettres-james-e-caron-9780807186121","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}