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7 - Conclusion: Momus and Modernism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2018

George McClure
Affiliation:
University of Alabama
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Summary

This chapter traces Momus' later adaptation to more playful and Bohemian ends in the eighteen and nineteenth centuries and his current ritual presence in Mardi Gras parades. It also reflects on the "modernist" face of Momus throughout Western culture: as a subaltern god challenging the more powerful or established ones in the ancient world; as a veiled agnostic threat to religious belief in the early modern era; as a Modern literary critic challenging Ancient tradition; and as a symbol of a counter-culture lifestyle in the Café Momus of Bohemian Paris. The very embodiment of parrhesia (frank speech), Momus provided a voice to challenge multiple forms of authority. As as especially potent tool for religious and literary doubt in the early modern era, his revival heralded the secular and skeptical features of modern culture.
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Chapter
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Doubting the Divine in Early Modern Europe
The Revival of Momus, the Agnostic God
, pp. 226 - 242
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

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