Lucian Critical Essay | Critical Essay by R. Bracht Branham

Critical Essay by R. Bracht Branham

SOURCE: "The Rhetoric of Laughter" in Uruly Eloquence: Lucian and the Comedy of Traditions, Harvard University Press, 1989, pp. 11-37.

In the following excerpt, Branham discusses the seriocomic nature of Lucian's works.

Few men, I believe, do more admire works of those great Masters who have sent their Satire (if I may use the Expression) laughing into the World. Such are that great Triumvirate, Lucian, Cervantes, and 5wift. These authors I shall ever hold in the highest Degree of Esteem; not indeed for that Wit and Humour alone which they all so eminently possess, but because they all endeavored, with the utmost Force of their Wit and Humour to expose and extirpate those Follies and Vices which chiefly prevailed in their Countries.

—Henry Fielding, Covent Garden Journal, 1752

As Horace wrote, the author who combines pleasure with utility has achieved true perfection. In my opinion, if anyone has accomplished...
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