Description
Book SynopsisMonty Python's Flying Circus was one of the most important and influential cultural phenomena of the 1970s. The British program was followed by albums, stage appearances, and several films, including Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Life of Brian, and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. In all, the comic troupe drew on a variety of cultural references that prominently figured in their sketches, and they tackled weighty matters that nonetheless amused their audiences.In Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition: Cultural Contexts in Monty Python, Tomasz Dobrogoszcz presents essays that explore the various touchstones in the television show and subsequent films. These essays look at a variety of themes prompted by the comic geniuses:Death The depiction of womenShakespearean influences British and American cultural representationsReactions from foreign viewers This volume offers a distinguished discussion of Monty Python's oeuvre, exhibiting highly varied approaches from a number of perspect
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Bibliographical Information Foreword Terry Jones Part One: Monty Python’s Body and Death 1. “It’s a Mr. Death or something. He has come about the reaping. I don’t think we need any at the moment”: Death and the Denial of Death in the Works of Monty Python Katarzyna Małecka 2. The Body, Desire and the Abject: The Corpse and Cannibalism in Monty Python’s Flying Circus Sketches Edyta Lorek-Jezińska 3. The Representation of Women in Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life Katarzyna Poloczek Part Two: Monty Python, The Fool 4. Monty Python and the Flying Feast of Fools Stephen Butler and Wojciech Klepuszewski 5. “How fortunate we are indeed to have such a poet on these shores”: Shakespeare, Monty Python and the Tradition of the Wise Fool Miguel Ángel González Campos 6. The Village Idiot and His Relation to the Unconscious Tomasz Dobrogoszcz Part Three: Monty Python Goes Abroad 7. The British Look Abroad: Monty Python and the Foreign Tomasz Dobrogoszcz 8. 20th Century Vole, Mr. Neutron, and Spam: Portrayals of American Culture in the Work of Monty Python Kevin F. Kern 9. Monty Python’s Fliegender Zirkus: the Unique German Show Adam Sumera Part Four: Pythonian Aesthetics and Beyond 10. Eric Idle and the Counterculture Richard Mills 11. Kitsch Britannia in Monty Python’s Flying Circus Justyna Stępień List of Contributors Index About the Contributors About the Editor
