From Rhetoric to Aesthetics: Wit and Esprit in the English and French Theoretical Writings of the Late Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries
From Rhetoric to Aesthetics: Wit and Esprit in the English and French Theoretical Writings of the Late Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries

Author(s): Klára Bicanová
Contributor(s): Jana Chamonikolasová (Editor), Libor Jan (Editor)
Subject(s): History, Philosophy, Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Aesthetics, Modern Age, Comparative Study of Literature, French Literature, 17th Century, 18th Century, Theory of Literature, Rhetoric, British Literature
Published by: Masarykova univerzita nakladatelství
Keywords: Rhetoric; aesthetics; theory of literature; wit and esprit; British literature; French literature; 17th century; 18th century;
Summary/Abstract: The thesis deals primarily with the term wit and its modern and historical usage in literary and aesthetic theories. Further, it concerned with the literary and aesthetic implications of the terms wit and esprit as they were theorized in critical writings of several authors of the early modern England and France. The thesis has two primary goals. The first goal is to re-assess the English concept of wit, nowadays regarded as an out-dated device of past poetic systems, and to present it as vital and useful part of the contemporary discourse. The second goal is to provide comparative reading of early modern English and French theoretical texts dealing with wit and esprit, respectively. Presenting ideas on the English term wit as employed in the theoretical writings in the light of its French equivalent esprit, I wish to demonstrate a gradual development of the terms from rhetoric to aesthetic.

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