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''The Dunciad'' is a landmark literary satire by Alexander Pope published in three different versions at different times. The first version—the "three book" ''Dunciad''—was published in 1728 anonymously. The second version, the ''Dunciad Variorum'' was published anonymously in 1729. The ''New Dunciad'', in a new fourth book conceived as a sequel to the previous three, appeared in 1742, and ''The Dunciad in Four Books'' a revised version of the original three books and a slightly revised version of the fourth book with revised commentary was published in 1743 with a new character, Bays, replacing Tibbald as the 'hero'. The poem celebrates the goddess Dulness and the progress of her chosen agents as they bring decay, imbecility, and tastelessness to the Kingdom of Great Britain. ==Origins== Pope told Joseph Spence (in ''Spence's Anecdotes'') that he had been working on a general satire of Dulness, with characters of contemporary Grub Street scribblers, for some time and that it was the publication of ''Shakespeare Restored'' by Lewis Theobald that spurred him to complete the poem and publish it in 1728. Theobald's edition of Shakespeare was not, however, as imperfect as ''The Dunciad'' would suggest; it was, in fact, far superior to the edition Pope had himself written in 1725. Pope's reputation, however, had been impugned, as the full title of Theobald's edition was ''Shakespeare restored, or, A specimen of the many errors, as well committed, as unamended, by Mr. Pope : in his late edition of this poet. Designed not only to correct the said edition, but to restore the true reading of Shakespeare in all the editions ever yet published.'' Although Theobald was certainly Pope's superior in the realm of historical editing and criticism, ''The Dunciad'' shows Pope flexing his superior creative muscles, and succeeds to the extent that it is the chief reason Theobald is remembered. Pope had written characters of the various "Dunces" prior to 1728. In his "Essay on Criticism," Pope characterises some witless critics. In his various ''Moral Epistles,'' Pope likewise draws characters of contemporary authors of poor taste. The general structure owes its origins to the communal project of the Scriblerians and other similar works such as the mock-heroic "MacFlecknoe" by John Dryden and Pope's own "The Rape of the Lock". The Scriblerian club comprised Jonathan Swift, John Gay, John Arbuthnot, Robert Harley, and Thomas Parnell most consistently, and the group met during the spring and summer of 1714. One group project was to write a satire of contemporary abuses in learning of all sorts, in which the authors would combine to write the biography of the group's fictional founder, Martin Scriblerus. The resulting ''The Memoirs of Martin Scriblerus'' contained a number of parodies of the most lavish mistakes in scholarship. For the mock-heroic structure of the ''Dunciad'' itself, however, the idea seems to have come most clearly from ''MacFlecknoe''. ''MacFlecknoe'' is a poem celebrating the apotheosis of Thomas Shadwell, whom Dryden nominates as the dullest poet of the age. Shadwell is the spiritual son of Flecknoe, an obscure Irish poet of low fame, and he takes his place as the favourite of the goddess Dulness. Pope takes this idea of the personified goddess of Dulness being at war with reason, darkness at war with light, and extends it to a full ''Aeneid'' parody. His poem celebrates a war, rather than a mere victory, and a process of ignorance, and Pope picks as his champion of all things insipid Lewis Theobald (1728 and '32) and Colley Cibber (1742). Jean-Pierre de Crousaz who wrote a biting commentary on Pope's ''Essay on Man'' found that Pope had "reserved a place for him in the ''Dunciad''". 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Dunciad」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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