The Vault at Pfaff's

An Archive of Art and Literature by the Bohemians of Antebellum New York

Literary Barnumism: Subversive Humour in P.T. Barnum’s America

Ironside, Fabian. "Literary Barnumism: Subversive Humour in P.T. Barnum’s America." Literary Barnumism: Subversive Humour in P.T. Barnum’s America. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of East Anglia. (2003-1-1).
Type
dissertation
Genre
dissertation
history
literary criticism
Abstract

Dissertation that examines "the application of P.T. Barnum's showman strategies to literature by a selection of humorists" including the Pfaff's writers, particularly George Arnold and Charles Farrar Browne (Artemus Ward). Chapters include "Henry Clapp Jr. and George Arnold: In the Shadow of the American Museum"; "Exposing Textual Legerdemain: Radical Burlesque in the Writing of George Arnold and Charles Farrar Browne"; "Artemus Ward and Literary Barnumism"; and "Curiosa Americana: Artemus Ward in London."