Disciplining Satire: The Censorship of Satiric Comedy on the Eighteenth-Century London Stage

MATTHEW J. KINSERVIK. Disciplining Satire: The Censorship of Satiric Comedy on the Eighteenth-Century London Stage. Lewisburg and London: Bucknell, 2002. Pp. 301. $48.50.

This book pursues the perverse objectives of defending censorship and contravening most received wisdom about satire. Mr. Kinservik believes that censorship and satire are not "radically opposed," as "later scholars" have assumed. Instead, censorship and satire have a complex, and even complementary, relationship. His argument about censorship begins with a gentle handling of Collier's vicious "Short View." Addressing Collier's effect on Farquhar's Twin Rivals, Mr. Kinservik asserts that Collier improved the play: "The focus on Collier in the preface indicates that his arguments acted as a prior restraint on Farquhar's composition. Therefore this play is particularly valuable because it shows us the productive impact of censorship on satire since Collier's censorial pronouncements resulted not in the suppression of satire, but in Farquhar's 'improvement' of it in The Twin Rivals. " The "improvement" lies in Farquhar's adherence to a "reformed" kind of play...