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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
Women After War: Weaving Nostos In Homeric Epic And In The Twenty-First Century, Corinne Ondine Pache
Women After War: Weaving Nostos In Homeric Epic And In The Twenty-First Century, Corinne Ondine Pache
Classical Studies Faculty Research
While women play a circumscribed role in ancient epic, Homer's Odyssey depicts both Helen and Penelope as undergoing their own forms of homecoming, or nostos, after the Trojan War: Helen returns to her husband Menelaus after experiencing the war firsthand at Troy and a ten-year separation; Penelope stays home, but Odysseus' return is in many ways as much a challenge for her as it is for him and the Odyssey portrays her domestic ordeal as a form of heroic nostos. In this essay, I explore female ways of homecoming in the Odyssey and draw connections between Homeric heroines …
Taking Matters Into Their Own Hands: Heroic Women Of The Early Reconquest In The Spanish Comedia, Matthew D. Stroud
Taking Matters Into Their Own Hands: Heroic Women Of The Early Reconquest In The Spanish Comedia, Matthew D. Stroud
Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research
Against the backdrop of the uncertain and troubling history of Christian Spain at the turn of the ninth century, three comedias highlight the heroic deeds of the women of Asturias and León. In Lope de Vega’s Las doncellas de Simancas, women who are to be sent as tribute to the Emir of Córdoba sever their own hands, threaten suicide, and ultimately lead the resistance against the barbaric exchange. In Las famosas asturianas, also by Lope, Sancha, selected, as well, for delivery to the Moors, shames her countrymen by appearing undressed before them but not in the presence of …
Re-Membering Lesbian Desire In Belle Epoque, Soldados De Salamina, And Las Trece Rosas, Debra J. Ochoa
Re-Membering Lesbian Desire In Belle Epoque, Soldados De Salamina, And Las Trece Rosas, Debra J. Ochoa
Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research
The presidency of Jose Luis Zapatero Rodriguez has seen significant legisla tion in Spain that includes the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2005 and La ley de la memoria historica in 2007.1 Upon consideration of the changes in Spain during the first decade of the twenty-first century, we as critics must pause to consider how literature and film respond to the topics of homosexuality and history. Since the death of Franco in 1975, writers and directors have created a significant body of films and literature that uncovers previously prohibited topics in order to make, "the once hidden visible" (Creekmur …
Gender And The Gaze: Sor Juana, Lacan, And Spanish Baroque Poetry, Matthew D. Stroud
Gender And The Gaze: Sor Juana, Lacan, And Spanish Baroque Poetry, Matthew D. Stroud
Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research
There are few motifs more ubiquitous in Renaissance and Baroque poetry than those that link falling in love to the eyes. Based at least in part on Theophrastus, as Halstead has pointed out (113-20), this notion of love describes a process by which one is captivated by looking at the object of desire, prompting an exchange of humors or spirits. If the love is returned, both lovers feel complete and satisfied, but if the object of desire does not reciprocate, one feels empty because one has given one’s soul to another while receiving nothing in return.
Women And Marriage In Corneille's Theater, Nina Ekstein
Women And Marriage In Corneille's Theater, Nina Ekstein
Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research
Marriage is ubiquitous in Corneille's theater: there is not a single one of his plays in which marriage is not an issue, in which at least one union is not proposed. In part this state of affairs is due to the fact that the vast majority of Corneille's characters are marriageable. While marriageability is hardly unusual among the young, Corneille inevitably takes his characters at precisely the dramatic moment when the choice of life partner is to be made. For Corneille, that moment is not even limited to the young; not infrequently older characters are in need of a spouse …
Homo/Hetero/Social/Sexual: Gila In Vélez’S La Serrana De La Vera, Matthew D. Stroud
Homo/Hetero/Social/Sexual: Gila In Vélez’S La Serrana De La Vera, Matthew D. Stroud
Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research
There is an ever growing body of criticism noting the homosocial underpinnings of comedia society in which women serve primarily to cement the relationships among men. Barbara Simerka, Harry Vélez de Quiñones, and others have convincingly begun to establish the homosocial nature of the stage society in which women, often as objects given signification only when they acquire exchange value, frequently have little say in their marriages or in other important aspects of their lives. The dama, to borrow a definition from Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, is a character who takes her "shape and meaning from a sexuality of which …
The Demand For Love And The Mediation Of Desire In La Traición En La Amistad, Matthew D. Stroud
The Demand For Love And The Mediation Of Desire In La Traición En La Amistad, Matthew D. Stroud
Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research
María de Zayas's comedia, La traición en la amistad [Friendship betrayed], presents us with a truly stunning demonstration of intrigue and deception in the service of love. Based on the relationships among nine people, we have women who deceive men, men who deceive women, women who betray each others' friendships, servants who are quick to comment on the absurdity of all these machinations, and a final scene in which most of the principals get married. What distinguishes this play is the presence of the ninth character, Fenisa, who acts and reacts just as the other women do before the …
A Woman's Tragedy: Catherine Bernard's 'Brutus', Nina Ekstein
A Woman's Tragedy: Catherine Bernard's 'Brutus', Nina Ekstein
Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research
The theater has traditionally been a male domain. The ranks of authors, directors, and even actors have long been overwhelmingly dominated by men. In Western drama, no women playwrights have gained admittance to the literary canon. While never absolute, the relative exclusion of women from dramatic authorship is even greater when the type of theater in question is tragedy. Carol Gelderman asks bluntly: "Why is it that no woman has ever written a great tragedy?". A number of explanations have been put forward that suggest deep-seated links between men and tragedy: Susan Gilbert and Susan Gubar find that "the structure …