This research investigates the relationship between the aesthetic or formal dimensions of Dutch humour texts (1600-1800) and the political meanings they generated. The approach used departs from the assumption that the formal aspects of a humour text (style; rhythm; use of metaphors of figures of speech) can do political work, without assuming humour to be inherently subversive and liberating or repressive and conservative. The source corpus consists of a large variety of early modern comedic texts and genres, which allows for intertextual analysis of the borrowing and adapting of comedic modes and motifs between authors and genres. In studying the working of textual humour, special attention will be paid to the material dimension of texts and the way they were consumed by readers, which, like the text-internal aesthetics, had an impact on the possible effects and meanings of these texts.
Copyright image: Atlas van Stolk, Rotterdam.