Satire and the city : visual representation and satirical journalism in nineteenth century satirical periodicals

O'Reilly, CA

Abstract

This paper examines the dynamics of the visual representations in a range of British
nineteenth century satirical periodicals. These publications were a common feature of
the urban publishing landscape during this period. Their focus was various aspects of
city life such as reviews, poetry, fiction, commentary and city council reports. Many
of these periodicals included visual cues and representations of the city, both on the
masthead and within the cover pages (and often shoehorned into the sides of the page)
that depicted and satirised aspects of city life and the role of the satirical journalist.
The interplay between the design elements and the words on the periodical
page presents an opportunity to revisit not just the aesthetic aspects of periodical
publication during the long nineteenth century but also a measure of their economic
viability, which was often turbulent. Intense competition between these publications
meant that this was a very crowded marketplace at this time with the inevitable
closures and mergers/amalgamations of titles that were a regular feature of the
nineteenth century periodical landscape. Both the visual depictions of the city and
satirical journalism and their placement on the page are a good indicator of the
journal’s relationship to its urban environment and of the satirical role of the
periodical in that space.

Citation

O'Reilly, C. (2019). Satire and the city : visual representation and satirical journalism in nineteenth century satirical periodicals. In N. Kaminski, A. Beck, V. Mergenthaler, & J. Ruchatz (Eds.), Visual Design : The Periodical Page as a Designed Surface (235-257). Hannover, Germany: Wehrhahn

• Acceptance Date: Feb 1, 2019
• Publication Date: Nov 15, 2019
• Deposit Date: Sep 12, 2018
• Pages: 235-257
• Series Title: Journal Literature
• Series Number: 1
• Book Title: Visual Design : The Periodical Page as a Designed Surface
• ISBN: 9783865256966
• Publisher URL: https://www.wehrhahn-verlag.de/public/index.php?ID_Section=2&ID_Product=1317
• Related Public URLs: https://journalliteratur.blogs.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/gb/veranstaltungen/konferenzen/visual-design/