Comparative Literature Commons^™

The Wilton Diptych And The Absolutism Of Richard Ii, Sumner Ferris

Quidditas

The Wilton Diptych (in The National Gallery, London) may now, after some years of hesitation on the matter, be considered to be very probably the work of an English artist. Consequently, we may take the painting to be not simply a masterpiece of the International Style but a specifically English masterpiece of the age of Richard II, the kind whom it chiefly honors and depicts, and we may expect to find in it a specifically English meaning.

Review Essay: Elizabeth Alvilda Petroff, Medieval Woman's Visionary Literature, Richard J. Panofsky

Quidditas

Elizabeth Alvilda Petroff, Medieval Woman's Visionary Literature, Oxford University Press, 1986.

Review Essay: Alan Macfarlane, Marriage And Love In England, Modes Of Reproduction, 1300-1840, J. B. Owens

Quidditas

Alan Macfarlane, Marriage and Love in England, Modes of Reproduction, 1300-1840, Basil Blackwell, 1986.

Full Issue

Quidditas

No abstract provided.

Gestus In The Theaters Of Brecht And Beckett, Barry Joseph Batorsky

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation asserts that the gest is the benchmark of Brecht's theater and is a basic element of the Beckettian vision. Part one defines the gest for Brecht's work. Chapter one of part one distinguishes gestic drama from other forms. The gest, understood as a historically significant comportment, proves incompatible with traditional plot and character structures. Chapter two suggests that gestic comportments loosen drama's connection to topics. Mother Courage is not about the horrors of war, but about how society chooses war. Chapter four contrasts the gestic, "typical"-event drama to events-of-character dramas. The distinction is then developed to explain Brecht's …

The George Eliot Fellowship Treasurer's Report- 1986

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

You will see from the Statement, which I hope is straightforward, that the finances of the Fellowship are in a satisfactory condition. In 1986 one of our High Income Bonds matured and was reinvested, together with £250 from the Snare Account, in a Capital Share 90 Account. This gives us a better rate of interest on our investment.

Profits on meetings, outing and sales are very encouraging. We prefer to raise money by our efforts rather than have to increase subscriptions and 1986 was a good year, with the result that subscriptions for this year remain the same as in …

The Byronic Hero In Evolution From Childe Harold To Enoch Soames, Mervat Mohsen

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

George Eliot And Theatre: The Toast To The Immortal Memory, Kathleen Adams

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

In 1838, at the age of 18, Mary Ann Evans was deep in her evangelical period, taking everything very, very seriously. On a visit to London with her brother Isaac she refused to accompany him to the theatre, preferring instead to stay home and read History of the Jews. Not quite theatre, but she went to S1. Michaelis Church in Coventry with Miss Rebecca Franklin, her teacher at the Coventry school, to hear Haydn's Creat'ion, Handel's Jephtha and a new oratorio by Mendelssohn entitled Paul (all in one concert) and she wrote to her old school-friend, Martha Jackson, "nothing can …

Address At Westminster Abbey Wreath-Laying

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

ROSEMARY MARTIN was our Guest of Honour. She had been invited because of her very sympathetic portrayal of Dolly Winthrop in the BBC Television film of 'Silas Marner' - a much loved character with a special place in George Eliot's novel.

After she had placed the Fellowship chaplet of laurel and white carnations on the Memorial Stone which had been unveiled exactly six years earlier by Gordon S. Haight, Miss Martin admitted that, prior to the invitation to play Dolly Winthrop in the film, she had read no George Eliot. She was interested in the part and then read 'Silas …

Speech At The Nuneaton Wreath-Laying, Len Struebig

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

Almost twenty years ago, for the first time, I joined the small group of admirers who annually pay tribute to the memory of Nuneaton's famous daughter.

It is perhaps fitting that my last public duty, albeit as ex-Curator, should be connected with George Eliot. Over the years I have listened with interest to the various speakers, each with their own particular reason for being honoured with the responsibility for laying the Fellowship tribute.

I have heard Lewes and Evans descendants recount family memories handed down with pride. Last year we heard John Letts tell us of the close bond which …

Treasurer's Report 1985

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

You wiII see from the Statement that our finances are healthy despite high expenses last year. The loss of almost £94 on the Annual Readings was both unexpected and disappointing. For years we have benefited financially from Gabriel Woolf's Readings and we welcome his wiIIingness to come again this year, when we hope to be able to show our appreciation of his continued support. We are fortunate to have many generous members, whose help has been invaluable. We had a bequest of £ 100 from the late Mrs. Reeve and donations of £260. 67p.

Dr. Ezell continues, at his own …

The 'Finiguerra' Venus And Her Children: The Iconology Of A Fifteenth-Century Florentine Engraving, Gwendolyn Bryant

Quidditas

Interpreting Finiguerra's engraving of the planetary Venus and those born under her aegis not only entails an analysis of the engraving itself and other related images, but it calls for a reassessment of the work of Aby Warburg, whose research on this and other series of the planets cleared the way for many subsequent studies. Since Warburg's followers have consistently ignored many of his theoretical concerns, it is essential to outline them briefly if we are to understand his analysis of the 'Finiguerra' Venus.

Review Essay: Hans Baron, Petrarch's "Secretum": Its Making And Its Meaning, Ronnie H. Terpening

Quidditas

Hans Baron, Petrarch's "Secretum": Its Making and Its Meaning, Medieval Academy of America, 1985. $22.00

Review Essay: V. A. Kolve, Chaucer And The Imagery Of Narrative: The First Five Canterbury Tales, Charles R. Smith

Quidditas

V. A. Kolve, Chaucer and the Imagery of Narrative: The First Five Canterbury Tales, Stanford University Press, 1984. $39.50

The Wife Of Bath And The Scholastic Concept Of Operatio, Joseph E. Grennen

Quidditas

The loathly lady of Chaucer's Wife of Bath's Tale delivers a lecture to her reluctant swain which is remarkably gracious and persuasive, although hardly unconventional. Her sentiments, which find a parallel in Dante's Convivio, may be summed up in a phrase: Virtue is the true nobility. True virtue, furthermore, is a legacy from Christ, not an inheritance passed on with titles and wealth. The chief difficulty facing a reader is to find a way of reconciling this view with the cynical, maverick personality established for Alice of Bath in her own prologue. We might suppose that Chaucer is here …

The Sense Of An Ending In Shakespeare's Early Comedies, Deborah T. Curren Aquino

Quidditas

About Shakespeare's endings, Samuel Johnson wrote:

in many of his plays the latter part is evidently neglected. When he found himself near the end of his work, and in view of his reward, he shortened the labor to snatch the profit. He therefore remits his efforts where he should most vigorously exert them, and his catastrophe is improbably produced or imperfectly represented. (71-72)

In the twentieth century, Ernest Schanzer has echoed Dr. Johnson's opinion in his commentary on A Midsummer Night's Dream: "For sheer economy and multiplicity of effect it [the first scene] has no equal in any of …

Tasso's First Discourse On The Art Of Poetry As A Guide To The Gerusalemme Liberata, Lawrence F. Rhu

Quidditas

The relationship between Tasso's early Discorsi dell'arte poetica and his Gerusalemme liberata needs clarification for a variety of reasons. The existence of a later poetics – the Discorsi del poema eroico, which modifies and expands the earlier version – has frequently side-tracked readers into a text that more properly pertains to Tasso's later version of his epic, the Gerusalemme conquistata. The availability of the second poetics in English, while the first remains inaccessible to readers without Italian, has also encouraged this inappropriate pairing. Further, the current vogue of literary theory tends to promote a view of Tasso's poetics …

Front Matter

Quidditas

No abstract provided.

Constantinian Coin Motifs In Ancient Literary Sources, Charles Odahl

Quidditas

Classical numismatists have long assumed that Roman emperors used the imperial coinage as a medium of propaganda. The obverses advertised the emperor's visages and titles, while the frequently changed reverses announced military victories, peace and prosperity, imperial beneficence and building programs, or religious beliefs, etc. Often beautifully designed, stamped with a much higher and more vivid relief than modern coins, and spread throughout the empire, Roman coins and medallions certainly seem to have been minted and disseminated with the intention that the imperial populace would note the figures and read the inscriptions thereon – not merely exchange them in economic …

Gastronomy And Sexuality: "Table Language" In The Heptaméron, Colette H. Winn

Quidditas

In his penetrating study on Marguerite de Navarre, Themes, Language and Structure, Marcel Tetel calls attention to the metaphoric usage of food in the Heptaméron. Critics, to date, have failed to pursue this line of inquiry. Readers accustomed to Rabelais's elaborate gastronomic depictions may be disappointed by the extreme sobriety of corresponding scenes in the Hemptaméron. Marguerite eschews the picturesque description of a generously laden table, the exuberance associated with this traditionally jovial event and the gigantism required by the Gargantuan legend in favor of briefer and often less colorful table encounters. Yet relegating these scenes to …

The Anglo-Norman Courtly Lyric, Carol J. Harvey

Quidditas

Whereas many works of a religious or moral nature survive from the Anglo-Norman era, secular lyric poetry was until quite recently virtually unknown. Isabel S. T. Aspin's Anglo-Norman Political Songs provided the first, and to date the only, readily-accessible modern edition of secular lyrics. This collection of political poems and satires shows that the author of occasional verse is not only interested in singing the praises of the Blessed Virgin Mary or adapting parts of the liturgy into the vernacular; he is moved also to sing of the corruption of state or church, to lament the death of the noble …

Review Essay: David Nicholas, The Domestic Life Of A Medieval City, Francis X. Hartigan

Quidditas

David Nicholas, The Domestic Life of a Medieval City, University of Nebraska Press, 1985. $26.50

On Ferrera And Chivalric/Epic Poetry In Italian Criticism Today, Maristella De P. Lorch

Quidditas

Gennaro Savarse, Il "Furioso" e la cultura del Rinascimento. Letteratura italiana: Studi e testi 10. Roma: Bulzoni, 1984. 94 p. Lire 7,000.

Riccardo Bruscagli, Stagioni della civiltà estense. Saggi di varia umanità, 25. Pisa: Nistri-Lischi, 1982. 236 p. Lire 15,000.

Rosanna Alhaique Pettinelli, L'immaginario cavalleresco nel Rinascimento ferrarese. L'Ippogrifo, 29. Roma: Bonacci, 1983. 301 p. Lire 16,000.

Review Essay: David C. Fowler, The Bible In Middle English Literature, Donald Sullivan

Quidditas

David C. Fowler, The Bible in Middle English Literature, University of Washington Press, 1984. $25.00

Full Issue

Quidditas

No abstract provided.

Review Essay: James Weisheipl, Nature And Motion In The Middle Ages, Richard Harper

Quidditas

James Weisheipl, Nature and Motion in the Middle Ages, Catholic University of America Press, 1985. $31.95

Review Essay: Warren Threadgold, Renaissances Before The Renaissance, Gunar Freibergs

Quidditas

Warren Threadgold, Renaissances Before the Renaissance, Stanford University Press, 1984. $28.50

Review Essay: David Bergeron, Shakespeare's Romances And The Royal Family, Dorothy C. Jones

Quidditas

David Bergeron, Shakespeare's Romances and the Royal Family, University of Kansas Press, 1985. $25.00

Annual Report- 1986

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

1986 was undoubtedly the Year of the Statue and the erection and unveiling in March was the highlight of our work in promoting and honouring George Eliot. A full report appeared in the 1986 Review and it is not necessary to include any more in this report, except to say that, after all the public ceremony of the day before, the Fellowship met at the George Eliot Hotel on Sunday, March 23rd for a Celebration Luncheon. This was informal and extremely pleasant, and it proved to be a real 'family' affair. Jonathan and Marjorie Ouvry stayed over to be with …

George Eliot And The 1832 Election, Geoffrey D.M. Block

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

This article is an examination of some political aspects of George Eliot's Felix Holt.

The very first Iine of the first chapter of the novel makes it clear that the action takes place in 1832. This was the year of the Reform Act - the year too of the first general election to be held under the provisions of that Act. When she began writing her book in 1865-66 George Eliot did some painstaking research into the happenings and into the electoral practices of the 1832 election. (See her oft-quoted Journal and the Quarry usefully abstracted in the Clarendon edition …