Prior to the modern age laughter raised passions and activated the body to sweat and shake. Derision was not distinguished from joy. Deceiving the senses by tri

In this delightfully engaging book, Walter S. Gibson takes a new look at Bruegel, arguing that the artist was no erudite philosopher, but a man very much in the

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Home Improvements -- 1. How to Read -- 2. Reading and Sociability -- 3

Laughing Histories breaks new ground by exploring moments of laughter in early modern Europe, showing how laughter was inflected by gender and social power. "I

Performative literary culture emerged as a set of practices that shaped production and distribution of learning in late medieval and early modern Western Europe