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Misers
Whatever happened to the misers?
Back in the 18th and 19th centuries people loved their misers. There was a whole literature about them. They were mean, they stank, they hid guineas in dung-heaps, they made pies out of long dead sheep. Mr Boffin in Our Mutual Friend is an avid collector and consumer of miser-porn. Daniel Dancer, John Elwes, Vulture Hopkins- these guys were famous.
There were famous fictional misers too- Scrooge, Silas Marner, Uncle Ebenezer Balfour.
But then along came the 20th century and misers- both real and fictional- dropped out of sight.
So why don't we have them any more?
Back in the 18th and 19th centuries people loved their misers. There was a whole literature about them. They were mean, they stank, they hid guineas in dung-heaps, they made pies out of long dead sheep. Mr Boffin in Our Mutual Friend is an avid collector and consumer of miser-porn. Daniel Dancer, John Elwes, Vulture Hopkins- these guys were famous.
There were famous fictional misers too- Scrooge, Silas Marner, Uncle Ebenezer Balfour.
But then along came the 20th century and misers- both real and fictional- dropped out of sight.
So why don't we have them any more?
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I think miserliness is in part an extreme reaction to the fear of falling into poverty and having no safety net.