Crotchets rampant: Peacock’s heraldic fiction

Book section

Heralds have been suspected, historically, of falsifying pedigrees and of granting arms to social upstarts, so it is perhaps unsurprising that mock-heraldic language remains part of the literary satirist’s toolkit well into the nineteenth century. This chapter considers the relationship of social criticism to heraldry in the work of Thomas Love Peacock, one of the most equivocating and personally elusive voices in British literature.

Authors: Johnston, F

• Publication status: In press
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Heraldic Society Publisher's website
• Host title: Coat of Arms