Open Journals @ UWA (The University of Western Australia)
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Allegories of Sight: Blinding and Power in Late Anglo-Saxon England
Get PDFThe practical necessity of sight to effective participation in Anglo-Saxon life is reflected in the lack of evidence for a prevalent culture of punitive blinding in Anglo-Saxon England. Contrary to the practices of continental Europe, the sparse records of blindings, legal, political or allegorical, demonstrate a cultural reluctance to use blinding as punitive measure. Yet late Anglo-Saxon law codes, histories and hagiographies also evidence a growing acceptance of the practical political expedient of blinding as a means to the deprivation of power. Law, history and hagiography each illuminate a different attitude to the practice. From as early as Edgar’s reign there is evidence for the use of mutilation as a legal means of punishment that preserved the soul for redemption; by Cnut’s reign these laws specified blinding as a punishment for recidivists. The histories demonstrate blinding as a political tool facilitating the deprivation of a rival’s power, a political tool granted legitimacy through the legal use of blinding. In contrast, the hagiographies use blindings, attempted blindings and healings as tropes that evidence and bestow the power of God in opposition to political power. These conflicting narratives demonstrate the conflicted attitude to blinding inherent in a culture that considered sight as a vehicle for power
Review: Vikings in the South: Voyages to Iberia and the Mediterranean
No full textAnn Christys, Vikings in the South: Voyages to Iberia and the Mediterranean (London: Bloomsbury, 2015). Print, 152 pp., US$39.95, ISBN: 9781474213752
Review: Negotiating the Political in Northern European Urban Society, c.1400–c.1600
No full textSheila Sweetinburgh, ed., Negotiating the Political in Northern European Urban Society, c.1400–c.1600 (Tempe, Arizona: Brepols, 2013). Print, 212 pp., €55.00, ISBN: 9782503546667
John Lyly’s Anatomy of Wit as an Example of Early Modern Psychological Fiction
Get PDFJohn Lyly developed the prose style that would become known as euphuism, named after the main character in his Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit (1578) and Euphues and his England (1580). The term ‘euphuism’ signifies the use of paradoxical and self-correcting language, while its spokespersons express a great deal of self-doubt and contradiction. We can conjecture that Lyly intended his ironic, detailed examination of ‘wit’ to dissect both the intellect and its often-inconsistent maneuverings, revealing a cynical view of human behavior. In this article, I re-read The Anatomy of Wit (1578) in the context of a larger body of what I call proto-psychological fiction. I argue that certain Early Modern texts, of which Lyly’s is a strong example, share tropes and motifs that indicate the author’s interest in the workings of human psychology avant la lettre, and more specifically, of a pessimistic strain of thought that is critical of self-awareness and doubtful of our ability to be guided by reason
Review: Conquerors, Brides, and Concubines: Interfaith Relations and Social Power in Medieval Iberia
No full textSimon Barton, Conquerors, Brides, and Concubines: Interfaith Relations and Social Power in Medieval Iberia (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015). Print, 280 pp., US$59.95, ISBN: 9780812246759
‘A Gentlewoman of the Courte’: Introducing and Translating the Court Lady
Get PDFA bestseller of the Renaissance period, Baldassarre Castiglione’s Book of the Courtier and its subsequent English translation by Thomas Hoby treat the subject of the Court Lady, cultivate a female readership, and claim to have been written and published due to the intervention of ladies. However, the introductory materials written by the authors render the role of the Court Lady to be divergent and unclear; an ideal that is impossible to achieve, much like the ideal of the Courtier himself. As the Courtier is ultimately a vassal of the Prince, and as he intends to gain power by persuasion, so too do the books have an interconnected power relationship with the women behind their respective publications. Through this feminine grounding—that is, the yielding of accountability for the works—both Castiglione and Hoby are able to appeal to Ladies and instruct them within the bodies of their books, simultaneously affording them power and tempering it. By implicit suggestion leading to action and the mix of inflated commendation and ever-so-slight disparagement, Castiglione and Hoby are able to convey a complicated relationship between two disenfranchised groups trying to mitigate authority for themselves by both granting and withdrawing power from the other
Review: Brepola Periodica and Miscellanea Online
No full textBrepols Publishers. Brepols Periodica and Miscellanea Online (2011). Online. <http://brepols.metapress.com/home/main.mpx>
Review: Medieval Afterlives in Contemporary Culture
No full textGail Ashton, ed., Medieval Afterlives in Contemporary Culture (London: Bloomsbury, 2015). Print, 368 pp., US$176.00, ISBN: 9781441129604
Review: Middle English Texts in Transition: A Festschrift dedicated to Toshiyuki Takamiya on his 70th birthday
No full textHorobin, Simon and Linne R. Mooney (eds). Middle English Texts in Transition: A Festschrift dedicated to Toshiyuki Takamiya on his 70th birthday. York: York University Press, 2014. Hardback; 359 pages; 20 colour, 20 black and white illustrations; RRP GBP£60.00; ISBN 9781903153536