Department of English Monograph No. 2. In the Wild with Samuel Butler or A Man of Three Centuries

Abstract

These three essays on Samuel Butler, as part of the James Cook University Department of English monograph series reflect Roger Parsell's own reaction to three areas of controversy which have been given a considerable amount of attention by literary critics and historians over a span of time now exceeding 100 years. In addressing the question of Butler's identity, distinctive kind of literary art, and critical reputation, however, Butler avoids trying to present anything even like a sketchy consensus of critical opinion intending simply to speak only as one reader who has found in Butler's works an almost inexhaustible fount of intriguing observations, provocative humour, and oddly satisfying subversion.