Recent theoretical approaches have compelled critics to rethink many received notions regarding the significance of contemporary parodic activity. This study places parody firmly (if paradoxically) where it belongs: at the centre of the literary-creative process in the literature of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries.

This book approaches parody as a literary form that has assumed diverse forms and functions throughout history. The author handles this diversity by classifying parody according to its objects of imitation and specifying three major parodic kinds: parody directed at texts and personal styles, parody directed at genre, and parody directed at discourse. The book argues that different literary-historical periods in Britain have witnessed the prevalence of different kinds of parody and investigates the reasons underlying this phenomenon. All periods from the Middle Ages to the present are considered in this regard, but a special significance is given to the postmodern age, where parody has become a widely produced literary form. The book contends further that postmodern parody is primarily discourse parody - a phenomenon which can be explained through the major concerns of postmodernism as a movement. In addition to situating parody and its kinds in a historical context, this book engages in a detailed analysis of parody in the postmodern age, preparing the ground for making an informed assessment of the direction parody and its kinds may take in the near future.

The music of Shostakovich has been at the centre of interest of both the general public and dedicated scholars throughout the last twenty years. Most of the relevant literature, however, is of a biographical nature. The focus of this book is musical irony. It offers new methodologies for the semiotic analysis of music, and inspects the ironical messages in Shostakovich‘s music independently of political and biographical bias. Its approach to music is interdisciplinary, comparing musical devices with the artistic principles and literary analyses of satire, irony, parody and the grotesque. Each one of these is firstly inspected and defined as a separate subject, independent of music. The results of these inspections are subsequently applied to music, firstly music in general and then more specifically to the music of Shostakovich. The composer‘s cultural and historical milieux are taken into account and, where relevant, inspected and analysed separately before their application to the music.

In The Right to Parody: Comparative Analysis of Free and Fair Speech, Amy Lai examines the right to parody as a natural right in free speech and copyright, proposes a legal definition of parody that respects the interests of rights holders and accommodates the public's right to free expression, and describes mechanisms to ensure that parody will best serve this purpose. Combining philosophical inquiry with robust legal analysis, the book draws upon examples from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and Hong Kong. While it caters to scholars in intellectual property and constitutional law, as well as free speech advocates, it is written in a non-specialist language designed to appeal to any reader interested in how the boom in online parodies and memes relates to free speech and copyright.

An original take on literary history that uses visual satire to explore literature's importance to eighteenth-century political culture

Originally presented as the author's thesis (Ph.D. - Princeton) under the title: Late Antiquity Upside Down: Rabbinic Parodies of Jewish and Christian Literature.