Showing papers in "Neophilologus in 2002"
TL;DR: In this paper, the formulation of promise in medieval English medical recipes following the Theory of Relevance is analysed and the authors claim that these expressions have different meanings depending on the set of contexts in which they are embedded.
Abstract: In this paper, we analyse the formulation of promise in Medieval English medical recipes following the Theory of Relevance. Our data for analysis consists of formulae normally found at the end of medieval recipes and which have been labelled as efficacy phrases or statements. A first glance at these expressions suggests that the writer is indeed attesting to the value of a particular remedy. However, we claim that these expressions have different meanings depending on the set of contexts in which they are embedded.
12 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the function of the undeniably homoerotic undercurrents of Nada, particularly insofar as Andrea's physical obsession with Gloria and her complex, deeply affectionate relationship with her friend Ena.
Abstract: Sexual repression is a constant theme in Nada (1945), and in the absence of any sort of traditional plot, Carmen Laforet's characters seem to be searching to define themselves socially and sexually in an atmosphere characterized by disorder. While scholars have emphasized both Laforet's use of an ambiguously constructed discourse and the overall tone of sexual repression in the novel's characters, aside from the obvious heterosexual tensions of the novel, there exists in Nada a series of exceptionally suggestive homoerotic undercurrents that have remained largely unexamined. An important question has remained unanswered: What is the function of the undeniably homoerotic undercurrents of the novel, particularly insofar as Andrea's physical obsession with Gloria and her complex, deeply affectionate relationship with her friend Ena? Through an analysis of both the highly charged female relationships and episodes of homoerotic desire and the contrasting instances of Andrea's indifference, repulsion, and fear of heterosexual relationships with men, it is the purpose of the present study to attempt to show that homosocial desire is encoded in the social structures detailed in the novel, and that same-sex friendship serves as a socially acceptable device through which Andrea can derive emotional fulfillment independent of traditional heterosexual social constructs.
10 citations
TL;DR: In the crucial moment in Asser's De Rebus Gestis Alfredi in which Asser narrates the crowning of Alfred, Asser praises Alfred in two balanced clauses celebrating respectively Alfred's sapientia and his fortitudo The use of this famous topos in this context is interesting and important, and also relevant to the structure of the work as whole.
Abstract: At the crucial moment in Asser's De Rebus Gestis Alfredi in which Asser narrates the crowning of Alfred, Asser praises Alfred in two balanced clauses celebrating respectively Alfred's sapientia and his fortitudo The use of this famous topos in this context is interesting and important, and it also relevant to the structure of the work as whole It has long been recognized that the De Rebus Gestis Alfredi is a bi-partite work and that the two halves of the work are quite different in their concerns I suggest that Asser was deliberately structuring the work as a whole in terms of this theme, first celebrating Alfred's fortitudo in the Danish wars, and then celebrating his sapientia, his achievements as a philosopher king, in the final portion of the Vita
9 citations
TL;DR: This article argued that while Chaucer's treatment of the Northern dialect in the Reeve's Tale is more consistent, the Ripper's speech is coloured with distinctive features characteristic of the Norfolk dialect of Middle English.
Abstract: This article reconsiders Chaucer's representation of the Norfolk dialect in his depiction of the Reeve in the Canterbury Tales. It argues that while Chaucer's treatment of the Northern dialect in the Reeve's Tale is more consistent, the Reeve's speech is coloured with distinctive features characteristic of the Norfolk dialect of Middle English.
9 citations
TL;DR: An interesting, if easily overlooked, formulaic expression in Old English literature, se harne stan, "hoar stone," indicates the boundary between the known, familiar world of human activity and the frightening realm of monsters, the supernatural and unusual adventure as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: An interesting, if easily overlooked, formulaic expression in Old English literature, se harne stan, "hoar stone," indicates the boundary between the known, familiar world of human activity and the frightening realm of monsters, the supernatural and unusual adventure. The hero who sees this marker is forewarned and if he treads further, he does so with the knowledge that a normal struggle with an earthly foe must not be expected.
8 citations
TL;DR: Exodus is one of the richest and most vivid works in the Old English canon as well as a fascinating confluence of Germanic and Christian traditions as mentioned in this paper and the absence of a complete verse translation in print reflects the relative neglect of biblical narrative in favour of the much translated Beowulf and the elegies.
Abstract: Exodus is one of the richest and most vivid works in the Old English canon as well as a fascinating confluence of Germanic and Christian traditions. The absence of a complete verse translation in print reflects the relative neglect of biblical narrative in favour of the much translated Beowulf and the elegies. Translation is required if this imbalance is to be redressed beyond the sphere of Anglo-Saxonist scholarship. This translation adopts the stress metre and alliterative scheme of the original and attempts to convey something of its vigour and evocativeness. Notes provide a brief introduction to important thematic issues and references in the poem and refer to salient critical discussions.
5 citations
TL;DR: The decision to cast a historical essay in the form of a conversation has very obvious ethical and even political implications, of which William Carlos Williams seems to have been aware when in 1924 he wrote one such piece ("Pere Sebastian Rasles") on the missionary work of the French Jesuits in Maine at the turn of the seventeenth century as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The decision to cast a historical essay in the form of a conversation has very obvious ethical and even political implications, of which William Carlos Williams seems to have been aware when in 1924 he wrote one such piece ("Pere Sebastian Rasles") on the missionary work of the French Jesuits in Maine at the turn of the seventeenth century In my essay I consider the key role that conversational modes and metaphors play in the articulation of a dehierarchizing multiculturalist historiography Specifically, I analyze the two main conversational moments in "PSR" (Williams speaking in Paris with the French man of letters Valery Larbaud and Rasles speaking with the Abenaki Indians of Western Maine) in terms of the featured interlocutors' varying commitments to listening to the voice of a cultural other
4 citations
TL;DR: In the renewed debate about the need in Spanish to update its orthographic system to the modern challenges of the language, it will be refreshing, and even pedagogical, to take a look at a small link in the long chain of debate as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: In the renewed debate about the need in Spanish to update its orthographic system to the modern challenges of the language, it will be refreshing, and even pedagogical, to take a look at a small link in the long chain of debate: Mateo Aleman's Ortografia Castellana. This book has been considered by some as one of the most peculiar books published in Mexico during the 17th century. The purpose of this essay is to approach Aleman's work from the perspective of the writer himself whose intention was to write a doctrinarian and perspective work dealing with orthography. In other words, Aleman's "Ortografia" is a meta-literary and meta-linguistic work. This essay will deal with the most important topics of its philosophical framework: the relationship between orthography and music, writing as a form of presence and transcendence of the writer, and the unfinished argument on the value of orality and writing. It will also explore those wonderful passages where the Aleman of Guzman de Alfarache fires his incisive criticism to the traditionalism and the blindness of the school system, blaming the "inorancia de los maestros pasados" for the lack of simplicity and consistency in the teaching of the language and, specifically, of the writing.
4 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a consideration of seafaring conditions allows another insight into the poet's paradoxical image of the Wanderer in his lonely journey, as he travels bound by the waves.
Abstract: The pervasive idea of binding in the Old English poem The Wanderer is expressed twice in the words ofer waþemagebind. Some explanations of this phrase have presented inconsistencies that diminish the affecting motif. A consideration of seafaring conditions allows another insight into the poet's paradoxical image of the Wanderer in his lonely journey, as he travels bound by the waves.
4 citations
TL;DR: In the works of the French-Jewish writer Henri Raczymow, Proust and Flaubert are prominently present as intertexts The Bloom & Bloch in particular is a witty, contemporary continuation of Prousst and Bloch by way of pastiche and parody.
Abstract: In the works of the French-Jewish writer Henri Raczymow, Proust and Flaubert are prominently present as intertexts The novel Bloom & Bloch in particular is a witty, contemporary continuation of Proust and Flaubert by way of pastiche and parody Through an analysis of these intertexts, the present article attempts to grasp two recurring, complementary themes in Raczymow On the one hand, the infinite possibilities of fiction, how it can take hold of reality On the other hand, literary failure and the difficulty of writing
4 citations
TL;DR: Saving Chaucer's Troilus as mentioned in this paper investigates the cultural construction of Criseyde at Troilus's expense and finds that Troilus encounters a double-bind between reason and desire.
Abstract: "Saving Chaucer's Troilus" responds to recent criticism elaborating on the cultural construction of Criseyde at Troilus's expense. Whereas analyses of Troilus note his affinity with philosophical principles, on one hand, and his socially dominant position, on the other hand, he fails to elicit much sympathy. Absent from these analyses, however, is the context of medieval practical reasoning that informs Troilus's deliberations and ultimately humanizes him. Following academically prescribed formulae, Troilus encounters a double-bind between reason and desire. His conflict effectively results from his adherence to principles deriving from his privileged position as a courtly knight. His cultural identity, in turn, disables his ethical integrity in a warring Troy and issues in his inability to act constructively. Troilus's philosophizing reflects a withdrawal from the narrative world. Although representing the dominant culture, he, like Criseyde, falls victim to it.
TL;DR: The first historical novels in Finland saw daylight in the works of Zacharias Topelius and Fredrika Runeberg as mentioned in this paper, who used a similar idea of the Finnish nation and its birth, but they handled it differently.
Abstract: An active construction of the national identity in Finland started in the 1840s. A primary activity was the creation of the national narrative in fictional works. The novels now published were - unlike the dominant epical genre - able to present the national feeling in a modern nationalistic way. Especially the historical novel was the first nationally coloured literary genre in many European countries. It is focal for the forming of a group identity to describe a common prehistory that legitimates the present. The first historical novels in Finland saw daylight in the works of Zacharias Topelius and Fredrika Runeberg. My research looks at the ways their novels present and construct the national historical narrative. Both authors feature a similar idea of the Finnish nation and its birth, but they handle it differently. Topelius writes more about the political history of distinguished men while Runeberg looks at history from a viewpoint that is nearer the everyday life and the common people.
TL;DR: The fourteenth-century Middle English verse romance, Amis and amiloun, is a well known exemplum of ideal friendship as mentioned in this paper, and the two characters exhibit all the traits of mutual loyalty that one expects in sworn brothers, and much description is offered in the text relating how much they resemble each other.
Abstract: The fourteenth-century Middle English verse romance, Amis and Amiloun, is a well known exemplum of ideal friendship. The two characters exhibit all the traits of mutual loyalty that one expects in sworn brothers, and much description is offered in the text relating how much they resemble each other. What is often overlooked is how different they really are. They are not so much two individuals cut from the same pattern, as are Roland and Olivier, as they are complements of each other. Amiloun is the rugged, vigorous, knight who quests and earns his spurs. Amis is a refined, chivalrous knight unsuited for life outside the court's comfort and safety. In many ways the virility of the one contrasts with the effete qualities of the other. This disparity is shown to be so sharp that it becomes easy to identify them on opposite extremities of the gender scale, the "masculine" one contrasting with – or complementing – the "feminine" other.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify a series of conditions which allowed dramatists to present divorce in a positive light in their plays and sheds light on the transition between Realism and Modernism and on the relationship between literary history and social history during this period.
Abstract: Whereas in the Realist literary system (c.1850-1890) divorce was a taboo subject, in the 1890s the depiction of marriage crises and their resolution becomes a key topos in German drama. This article identifies a series of conditions which allowed dramatists to present divorce in a positive light in their plays and sheds light on the transition between Realism and Modernism and on the relationship between literary history and social history during this period.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on how subtle implications emerging from the differences and similarities in the realisation of this motif may act as a reflection of the dramatic and social ethos of both national theatres.
Abstract: Building on the light cast by a critical analysis of the woman-disguised-as-man dramatic convention in a comparative approach encompassing its use by Shakespeare and Lope de Vega, this paper focuses on how subtle implications emerging from the differences and similarities in the realisation of this motif may act as a reflection of the dramatic and social ethos of both national theatres.
TL;DR: Many catalogues of animals and sounds exist in medieval glossaries, poems, or other types of text as discussed by the authors, most of which descend from a list associated with Polemius Silvius, one associated with Phocas, and many of which are mixtures of lists from multiple sources.
Abstract: Many catalogues of animals and sounds exist in medieval glossaries, poems, or other types of text. Most descend from a list associated with Polemius Silvius, one associated with Phocas, one associated with Aldhelm, or one associated with the poem De Philomela. Some are mixtures, editions even, of lists from multiple sources. One such text in Cambridge University Library shows a 'scientist' using scientific methods to classify and organize linguistic material.
TL;DR: Schicksalsreise reveals a complex author, not only a Christian convert, but a former Jew who has not turned his back altogether on Jewish political concerns and, also, a German who is drawn back to postwar Berlin and whose diction betrays the excitement of hearing his native language spoken on native soil as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: This manuscript offers an interpretation of Doblin's Schicksalsreise in regard to authorial identity. Schicksalsreise appeared in 1949, but long suffered from critical neglect. Now a few analyses of the work exist and effectively explicate its "confession" or "conversion" theme. The problem with this analytical approach is that by overemphasizing the confessional narrative, it misses other features of the book. Schicksalsreise reveals a complex author – not only a Christian convert, but a "former" Jew who has not turned his back altogether on Jewish political concerns and, also, a German who is drawn back to postwar Berlin and whose diction betrays the excitement of hearing his native language spoken on native soil. Important as religio is to Schicksalsreise, the work does not invite an interpretation that reduces these other elements to religious terms. The manuscript relies on a recent study by Roland Dollinger, who has represented Doblin as an "epic" writer constructing his works out of "fragments" – a perspective that is suited to Schicksalsreise and its "fragmentary" author. It is suggested that "exile" supplies a frame of reference in which to view the ambivalence of Doblin's identity.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors take up questions of metaphorical and physical death in motherhood in order to determine not simply how Zola connects them but also if death is another way to seize the mother's source of power.
Abstract: An emerging theme in the study of motherhood in Zola's Rougon-Macquart series is one of male attempts to appropriate the invariably menacing female reproductive function. While Naomi Schor's theory, expounded in her seminal work, Zola's Crowds, pursues the notion of woman's death as part of the "founding myth" in Zola's novels, this study takes up questions of metaphorical and physical death in motherhood in order to determine not simply how Zola connects them but also if death is another way to seize the mother's source of power. Do the symbolic or physical deaths of characters such as Marthe Mouret, Helene Grandjean and Louise Chanteau occur in response to an underlying anxiety about motherhood? Do they betray male uneasiness about being dominated by sexual needs? Or do they simply illustrate the fatality of Zola's deliberately flawed genetics?
TL;DR: The Algerian novelist Assia Djebar as discussed by the authors has expressed her reluctance to write about herself in the French language, that of her country's colonizers, yielding a text rich in paradox.
Abstract: The Algerian novelist Assia Djebar has expressed her reluctance to write about herself in the French language, that of her country's colonizers. In her novel L'Amour, la fantasia, the author explores this conflict, yielding a text rich in paradox. Linguistic tension appears most clearly in one particular chapter of the novel, "La Tunique de Nessus." I analyse the chapter with respect to two models, Plato's pharmakon and the tunic referred to in the chapter's title. Like them, the language adopted by the young narrator to tell her story functions both as a burden and as a blessing; it can be considered a poisoned gift. Djebar has thus found an appropriate symbol for the problematic nature of postcolonial autobiography. The novel can be read as a liberating rewriting of the models, reproducing cultural and linguistic tension as a means of preserving individual postcolonial identity.
TL;DR: The personal pronoun him in line 852b of Beowulf does not refer to Grendel as mentioned in this paper, either to his "life" (singular) or "life and soul" (plural).
Abstract: The personal pronoun him in line 852b of Beowulf does not refer to Grendel. Its reference is either to his 'life' (singular) or to his 'life and soul' (plural). Grendel managed to reach the cave he inhabited together with his mother. It is there that Beowulf ultimately beheaded the monster.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyze the existence of a code of masculinity and Pascual's mode of violent behavior to conform to such a code, and trace the allegorical character of the novel and the interrelation of these aspects in the social act-space.
Abstract: Camilo Jose Cela's novel La familia de Pascual Duarte [Pascual Duarte's Family] (1942) has been criticized from different ideological points of view In this essay, my intent is to offer a different and complementary vision of the character of Pascual Duarte Here, I analyze the existence of a code of masculinity and Pascual's mode of violent behavior to conform to such a code In examining Pascual Duarte, I trace the allegorical character of the novel and the interrelation of these aspects in the social act-space This last factor functions as an envelope which encloses and marks the validity of public acts and then inserts itself in the opinion of the reader creating a critical voice which judges Pascual's deeds The theoretical framework for this essay is based on studies that question the legitimacy of the patriarchal project and, together with a 'perverse' reading, reveal the text's valuable statement on the existence of a masculine code
TL;DR: The authors introduced a new type of reported discourse, the paraliptic summary (resume paraliptique), where the narrator explicitly refuses to repeat what the character has said, which is a subtype of what Leech and Short (1981) call a narrative report of a speech act and Genette (1972) terms discours narrativise.
Abstract: This paper introduces a new type of reported discourse, the paraliptic summary (resume paraliptique), where the narrator explicitly refuses to repeat what the character has said. The paraliptic summary is a subtype of what Leech and Short (1981) call a narrative report of a speech act and Genette (1972) terms discours narrativise, and it seems to be related to the rhetorical figure paralipsis (occultatio, occupatio etc.). The paper studies Henry Fielding's use of the paraliptic summary in his novels Joseph Andrews, Tom Jones and Amelia. After a brief terminological introduction, the article discusses the various related rhetorical devices, the possible models that Fielding may have had for this device (the classics, Shakespeare, Marivaux), and finally analyzes 26 examples from Fielding.
TL;DR: This article examined two complementary sections taken from Beowulf and Grettis Saga to examine the generic incongruities made evident through an analysis of the discursive strategies employed to convey action.
Abstract: This study examines two complementary sections taken from Beowulf and Grettis Saga. Each section depicts the hero's initial meeting with the monster. While previous criticism of this correspondence between the Old English epic and the Old Norse saga has focused primarily on plot similarities, this study will examine the generic incongruities made evident through an analysis of the discursive strategies employed to convey action. In order to clarify the generic distinctions between Beowulf and Grettis Saga, I will confine my analysis to this key moment in both texts. While the plot developments of Beowulf's battle with Grendel and Grettir's battle with Glamr are nearly identical, an analysis of the generic presuppositions created in these scenes serve to distinguish the Old English epic from the Old Norse saga.
TL;DR: The Brandon Antler runic inscription is likely to consist of four words: wohs, wildum, deorae, and wildum on a wild animal.
Abstract: The Brandon Antler runic inscription is likely to consist of four words. Whereas the reading and interpretation of wohs and wildum are not in doubt, two different interpretations have been suggested for the remaining runic sequence. It is proposed that the final ligature represents a triple rune, so that the resulting reading wohs wildum deorae an (or possibly deorae on) yields a meaningful clause: `grew on a wild animal' may indicate that the text originated in the riddle tradition.
TL;DR: In this paper, a reading of the Peruvian author Clorinda Matto de Turner takes into account the two principal types of influences on her work, the societal and the literacy.
Abstract: This article attempts an understanding of the nationalist ideologies of the Peruvian author Clorinda Matto de Turner. These foundational ideologies can only be appreciated in the context of the societies in which she wrote her works and in light of the philological investigation she fostered. This reading of Clorinda Matto takes into account the two principal types of influences on her work, the societal and the literacy. Her nationalist considerations are examined in the context of three types of societies, the Andes, the Peruvian cost, and cosmopolitan Argentina. Her philological research must be understood in terms of ethnicity. Two very important sources in her thought can be found in the colonial authors Inca Garcilaso de la Vega and Juan de Espinosa Medrano. Through them Matto comes to define a national identity based on cultural hybridization, achieved through the philological and historical study of pre-Colombian and colonial Peru. This nationalist view of things is watered down when it comes in contact with Matto's feminist experience in Buenos Aires which suggested the importance of an internationalist approach to humanity.
TL;DR: The first tractado epigraph of the anonymous La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes as discussed by the authors does not necessarily mark the division between the prologue and the letter.
Abstract: It is now reasonable to assume that the rubrics in the three earliest surviving editions of the sixteenth-century, anonymous La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes y de sus fortunas y adversidades are apocryphal. This article stresses that, if so, the first tractado epigraph no longer necessarily marks the division between prologue and letter. The prologue probably in fact ended a paragraph earlier. Scholars have long sought to reconcile what now appear as the prologue proper and a factitious extension. The new structure proposed, while by no means abolishing problems in this area, may nonetheless enable us to take a more relaxed view of them.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the conditions which regulate the position of the lexical subject in some types of subordinated clauses in Spanish and determine to what extent the rules that operate in the independent sentence are valid for these clauses.
Abstract: The present study is aimed at describing the conditions which regulate the position of the lexical subject in some types of subordinated clause in Spanish. To achieve this, we examine existing studies about the positioning of the Spanish subject in independent sentences. After that we make a careful analysis of a corpus of written texts with regard to all subordinated clauses introduced by el cual (etc.), quien(es), cuando, donde and porque. We will try to determine to what extent the rules that operate in the independent sentence are valid for subordinated clauses. If necessary, we will formulate special conditions that are effective in these clauses.
TL;DR: In this paper, it was suggested that the similarities between Corneille's characters and Descartes' Traite des Passions can be explained by the fact that all four went to Jesuit schools.
Abstract: It is now over a century since the striking resemblances were first put forward between Corneille's characters and the implied `hero' of Descartes' Traite des Passions. Since direct influence of one on the other seemed precluded by the dates of their writings, the puzzle invited many attempts at other explanations. One which was published in this journal in the early part of the last century ascribed the similarities to the direct influence of St Francois de Sales, in whose writings additional textual resemblances were found. Another detailed study promoted the influence of Honore d'Urfe. A decade or so later, it was suggested that the resemblances in the four writers could perhaps be explained by the fact that all four went to Jesuit schools. This article explores that possibility by restating some of the basic similarities already noted and, for each category, comparing with them some brief extracts from Jesuit-Scholastic texts of the period. Is the puzzle solved?.
TL;DR: In Die Verwandlungen des Pierrot, Schnitzler elaborates some of his favorite motifs, including that of the "Puppenspieler," in pantomime as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: In Die Verwandlungen des Pierrot, Arthur Schnitzler elaborates some of his favorite motifs, including that of the "Puppenspieler," in pantomime. Pierrot an actor and thus adept at controlling others' perception of reality, controls – toys with – Katharina by appearing before her in various disguises – the transformations indicated in the title – at a number of venues in the Wurstelprater. In the end, like many a "Puppenspieler" before him (e.g. Merklin in Der Puppenspieler or Paracelsus), Pierrot loses control of the situation, which leads to a restoration of the status quo ante: Pierrot is reunited with Anna, his fiancee, and with the rest of his acting troupe, and Katharina, freed from her brief pre-nuptial adventure, is reunited with her family and with her fiance, Eduard.
TL;DR: More than three dozen English verbs which consist of an ethnonym, a toponym, or a similar word and the suffix -ize and have other than a literal meaning are described in this paper.
Abstract: This article records more than three dozen English verbs which consist of an ethnonym, a toponym, or a similar word and the suffix -ize and have other than a literal meaning. Some related French, Hebrew, and Spanish material is mentioned too.