James Treadwell
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199262977
- eISBN:
- 9780191718724
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199262977.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
This chapter looks at occasions in a variety of Romantic-period texts when they consider themselves as autobiographies, or address the moment when self-writing becomes public. There is a particular ...
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This chapter looks at occasions in a variety of Romantic-period texts when they consider themselves as autobiographies, or address the moment when self-writing becomes public. There is a particular interest in apologetic or defensive positions; at such moments, autobiographical writing reflects the uncertain status of the genre in the literary public sphere. Instances are read in works by Carlyle, Wordsworth, Wollstonecraft, Catherine Cary, Percival Stockdale, Thomas Scott, and others. The chapter ends by suggesting that autobiographical acts in the period are best understood as transactions; all self-writing is engaged in negotiating the conditions under which it is published and read.Less
This chapter looks at occasions in a variety of Romantic-period texts when they consider themselves as autobiographies, or address the moment when self-writing becomes public. There is a particular interest in apologetic or defensive positions; at such moments, autobiographical writing reflects the uncertain status of the genre in the literary public sphere. Instances are read in works by Carlyle, Wordsworth, Wollstonecraft, Catherine Cary, Percival Stockdale, Thomas Scott, and others. The chapter ends by suggesting that autobiographical acts in the period are best understood as transactions; all self-writing is engaged in negotiating the conditions under which it is published and read.
Daniel Karlin
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198112297
- eISBN:
- 9780191670756
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198112297.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature, Poetry
This chapter discusses Aristophanes' Apology, which is considered to be one of the finest and most neglected of all of Browning's later poems. It was published in 1875 and shows Browning's pride of ...
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This chapter discusses Aristophanes' Apology, which is considered to be one of the finest and most neglected of all of Browning's later poems. It was published in 1875 and shows Browning's pride of his classical learning. The chapter includes an introduction to the poem, its context in the work of Browning, and provides ideas of the poem's plot and form.Less
This chapter discusses Aristophanes' Apology, which is considered to be one of the finest and most neglected of all of Browning's later poems. It was published in 1875 and shows Browning's pride of his classical learning. The chapter includes an introduction to the poem, its context in the work of Browning, and provides ideas of the poem's plot and form.
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226305554
- eISBN:
- 9780226305264
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226305264.003.0011
- Subject:
- Literature, Women's Literature
This chapter discusses Marie le Jars de Gournay's “The Apology for the Woman Writing.” The “Apology” is, in essence, a profuse autobiographical self-justification, with “apology” meaning “defense,” ...
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This chapter discusses Marie le Jars de Gournay's “The Apology for the Woman Writing.” The “Apology” is, in essence, a profuse autobiographical self-justification, with “apology” meaning “defense,” on the model—invoked self-consciously and rather grandiosely—of Plato's Apology of Socrates. In defending herself, like the persecuted Greek philosopher, against slanders that menaced her reputation and, if not her life, her livelihood (by thwarting her prospects for patronage), Gournay composed what is undoubtedly the most revealing, on several levels, of her three major autobiographical pieces. It takes the readers to her very origins as a writer in the Promenade of Monsieur de Montaigne, where her quasi-mystical ideal of communion among grands esprits—those of antiquity joining with Michel de Montaigne himself—was already at loggerheads with the imperatives of histoire tragique.Less
This chapter discusses Marie le Jars de Gournay's “The Apology for the Woman Writing.” The “Apology” is, in essence, a profuse autobiographical self-justification, with “apology” meaning “defense,” on the model—invoked self-consciously and rather grandiosely—of Plato's Apology of Socrates. In defending herself, like the persecuted Greek philosopher, against slanders that menaced her reputation and, if not her life, her livelihood (by thwarting her prospects for patronage), Gournay composed what is undoubtedly the most revealing, on several levels, of her three major autobiographical pieces. It takes the readers to her very origins as a writer in the Promenade of Monsieur de Montaigne, where her quasi-mystical ideal of communion among grands esprits—those of antiquity joining with Michel de Montaigne himself—was already at loggerheads with the imperatives of histoire tragique.
Todd W. Reeser
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226307008
- eISBN:
- 9780226307145
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226307145.003.0010
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
The publication and popularity of Henri Estienne’s Latin translation of Sextus Empiricus’s Outlines of Skepticism allows for a new, skeptical approach to same-sex sexuality that questions its ...
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The publication and popularity of Henri Estienne’s Latin translation of Sextus Empiricus’s Outlines of Skepticism allows for a new, skeptical approach to same-sex sexuality that questions its perceived unnaturalness and foreignness. Such an approach is embodied by Michel de Montaigne’s Essays. It is well-known that the French essayist applies a classical skepticism to forms of subjectivity around ethnicity, but his skeptical reading practices can be enlarged to same-sex sexuality. Skeptical approaches to cultural phenomena are easily transferred to same-sex sexuality because they are predicated on questioning the natural through a series of cross-cultural comparisons that reveal the ultimate relativity of culture. In a discussion of hermeneutics in his skeptical manifesto “Apology for Raymond Sebond,” Montaigne specifically critiques translators of Plato for “putting Plato to bed wherever they want,” thus for imposing their own morality and for reading Platonic sexuality anachronistically. But, Montaigne suggests, because they do not apply a skeptical lens to sexuality and do not consider it in a more objective manner, they—not the assumed crazed lovers of boys—are the ones affected as they try to efface the same-sex elements from the corpus.Less
The publication and popularity of Henri Estienne’s Latin translation of Sextus Empiricus’s Outlines of Skepticism allows for a new, skeptical approach to same-sex sexuality that questions its perceived unnaturalness and foreignness. Such an approach is embodied by Michel de Montaigne’s Essays. It is well-known that the French essayist applies a classical skepticism to forms of subjectivity around ethnicity, but his skeptical reading practices can be enlarged to same-sex sexuality. Skeptical approaches to cultural phenomena are easily transferred to same-sex sexuality because they are predicated on questioning the natural through a series of cross-cultural comparisons that reveal the ultimate relativity of culture. In a discussion of hermeneutics in his skeptical manifesto “Apology for Raymond Sebond,” Montaigne specifically critiques translators of Plato for “putting Plato to bed wherever they want,” thus for imposing their own morality and for reading Platonic sexuality anachronistically. But, Montaigne suggests, because they do not apply a skeptical lens to sexuality and do not consider it in a more objective manner, they—not the assumed crazed lovers of boys—are the ones affected as they try to efface the same-sex elements from the corpus.
Forrest G. Robinson
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823227877
- eISBN:
- 9780823240968
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823227877.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 19th Century Literature
Clemens was struck by guilt when a incident in a birthday dinner for John Greenleaf Whittier happens: all the audience expected a entertaining speech, instead they got a rather crude burlesque of ...
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Clemens was struck by guilt when a incident in a birthday dinner for John Greenleaf Whittier happens: all the audience expected a entertaining speech, instead they got a rather crude burlesque of Emerson, Holmes, and Longfellow, casted by Clemens as bibulous ruffians. He is baffled and mortified by what he wrote, so promptly delivered an apology to his victims and accepted his blame for trespass. Clemens's perennial craving for an end to guilt was accompanied by the virtual certainty that there would be no relief from his “list of permanencies.” That offense he committed continued to weigh heavily in his mind, so he decided to remove his family to Europe just a few months later. As he grew older his suffering became more chronic, his guilt became a fixed feature of his interior life.Less
Clemens was struck by guilt when a incident in a birthday dinner for John Greenleaf Whittier happens: all the audience expected a entertaining speech, instead they got a rather crude burlesque of Emerson, Holmes, and Longfellow, casted by Clemens as bibulous ruffians. He is baffled and mortified by what he wrote, so promptly delivered an apology to his victims and accepted his blame for trespass. Clemens's perennial craving for an end to guilt was accompanied by the virtual certainty that there would be no relief from his “list of permanencies.” That offense he committed continued to weigh heavily in his mind, so he decided to remove his family to Europe just a few months later. As he grew older his suffering became more chronic, his guilt became a fixed feature of his interior life.
Sharon Cameron
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226413907
- eISBN:
- 9780226414232
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226414232.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This essay examines Bresson’s Au hasard Balthazar in which, through the filmic congruence of animal and human bodies, we are made to rethink the meaningfulness of the distinction that separates ...
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This essay examines Bresson’s Au hasard Balthazar in which, through the filmic congruence of animal and human bodies, we are made to rethink the meaningfulness of the distinction that separates animal and human forms of embodiment—specifically, we are asked to rethink the roles of reason and will in making us who we are, a reconception that owes a debt to “Apology for Raymond Sebond.” For Montaigne animal communication, which does not depend on speech or even voice, has a human equivalent in involuntary gesture and posture.Less
This essay examines Bresson’s Au hasard Balthazar in which, through the filmic congruence of animal and human bodies, we are made to rethink the meaningfulness of the distinction that separates animal and human forms of embodiment—specifically, we are asked to rethink the roles of reason and will in making us who we are, a reconception that owes a debt to “Apology for Raymond Sebond.” For Montaigne animal communication, which does not depend on speech or even voice, has a human equivalent in involuntary gesture and posture.
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9781846311833
- eISBN:
- 9781846315947
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/UPO9781846315947.003
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
This chapter explains the conflictive connection between the modernist/avant-garde tradition and the ‘poetry of experience’ by exploring three contemporary ‘Apologies for Poetry’. It specifically ...
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This chapter explains the conflictive connection between the modernist/avant-garde tradition and the ‘poetry of experience’ by exploring three contemporary ‘Apologies for Poetry’. It specifically defines three models for understanding the place of poetry within the larger culture. The first is based on the high-culture, high-modernist paradigm. The second is a ‘middle-brow’ model. The third is an avant-garde model. This chapter elaborates the problems with the poetry of experience. Then, it explores the tones of Felipe Benítez Reyes, Isla Correyero and José Ángel Valente toward poetry. It suggests that all of them use irony, but in each case, the irony develops from a different contradiction and results in a markedly different tone.Less
This chapter explains the conflictive connection between the modernist/avant-garde tradition and the ‘poetry of experience’ by exploring three contemporary ‘Apologies for Poetry’. It specifically defines three models for understanding the place of poetry within the larger culture. The first is based on the high-culture, high-modernist paradigm. The second is a ‘middle-brow’ model. The third is an avant-garde model. This chapter elaborates the problems with the poetry of experience. Then, it explores the tones of Felipe Benítez Reyes, Isla Correyero and José Ángel Valente toward poetry. It suggests that all of them use irony, but in each case, the irony develops from a different contradiction and results in a markedly different tone.
Alan Liu
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226486956
- eISBN:
- 9780226486970
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226486970.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter considers the version of rhetorical exordium the method uses to place its argument in play. Just as Philip Sidney solicits his audience in the Apology for Poetry, so Stephen Greenblatt ...
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This chapter considers the version of rhetorical exordium the method uses to place its argument in play. Just as Philip Sidney solicits his audience in the Apology for Poetry, so Stephen Greenblatt and others—to quote Jean E. Howard's early criticism of the technique—broach their argument through “painstaking description of a particular historical event, place, or experience” whose “supposedly paradigmatic moment” sketches “a cultural law.” So thoroughgoing is such paradigmatism that exordium is convertible with digressio: even when a New Historicist study internalizes a paradigm as its centerpiece rather than its opening, the paradigm retains a throwaway quality. The chapter's discussion of why not? of the New Historicism serves primarily to repress the urgency of its real questions about literature and history. The reason the repression is necessary is because the urgency of these questions is not motivated by curiosity about literature and history in the past.Less
This chapter considers the version of rhetorical exordium the method uses to place its argument in play. Just as Philip Sidney solicits his audience in the Apology for Poetry, so Stephen Greenblatt and others—to quote Jean E. Howard's early criticism of the technique—broach their argument through “painstaking description of a particular historical event, place, or experience” whose “supposedly paradigmatic moment” sketches “a cultural law.” So thoroughgoing is such paradigmatism that exordium is convertible with digressio: even when a New Historicist study internalizes a paradigm as its centerpiece rather than its opening, the paradigm retains a throwaway quality. The chapter's discussion of why not? of the New Historicism serves primarily to repress the urgency of its real questions about literature and history. The reason the repression is necessary is because the urgency of these questions is not motivated by curiosity about literature and history in the past.
Alan Liu
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226486956
- eISBN:
- 9780226486970
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226486970.003.0008
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter, which examines the project of literary history as a technical practice that is part of the broader poetics of contemporary technē, looks at the difference between the technical ethos of ...
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This chapter, which examines the project of literary history as a technical practice that is part of the broader poetics of contemporary technē, looks at the difference between the technical ethos of past literary history and that of the so-called new literary history. It submits the literary historical practices of the past to a critique by technology—specifically, to critique from the anachronistic perspective of contemporary technology. The materials considered here include only the following works representing certain shared elements of literary-historical explication from the sixteenth century through modernity: Philip Sidney's Apology for Poetry, Thomas Gray's “The Progress of Poesy,” Percy Bysshe Shelley's Defense of Poetry, Hippolyte Taine's History of English Literature, T. S. Eliot's “Tradition and the Individual Talent,” Harold Bloom's Anxiety of Influence, and formalist literary history spanning from the Russian Formalist thesis of “systemic evolution.”Less
This chapter, which examines the project of literary history as a technical practice that is part of the broader poetics of contemporary technē, looks at the difference between the technical ethos of past literary history and that of the so-called new literary history. It submits the literary historical practices of the past to a critique by technology—specifically, to critique from the anachronistic perspective of contemporary technology. The materials considered here include only the following works representing certain shared elements of literary-historical explication from the sixteenth century through modernity: Philip Sidney's Apology for Poetry, Thomas Gray's “The Progress of Poesy,” Percy Bysshe Shelley's Defense of Poetry, Hippolyte Taine's History of English Literature, T. S. Eliot's “Tradition and the Individual Talent,” Harold Bloom's Anxiety of Influence, and formalist literary history spanning from the Russian Formalist thesis of “systemic evolution.”
Warren Boutcher
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198123743
- eISBN:
- 9780191829437
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198123743.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature, European Literature
Chapter 4 argues that the Montaignean essai’s transformation of literary precedents was understood by contemporaries to be the performance of an unofficial role or unnamed office on the part of a ...
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Chapter 4 argues that the Montaignean essai’s transformation of literary precedents was understood by contemporaries to be the performance of an unofficial role or unnamed office on the part of a nobleman who had fashioned a distinct philosophical persona. The office was that of private judgemental mediator between expert knowledge and lived experience—both his own experience and that of his ‘friends and family’. The chapter begins with discussion of Florio’s Montaigne, then analyses the ‘Apology for Raymond Sebond’, before focusing on Essais II 37 and the Journal de Voyage. In the latter case, the topic is Montaigne’s relationship to early modern medicine, his experience of spas and baths, and the way he mediates the revived art of balneology for his patrons and readers.Less
Chapter 4 argues that the Montaignean essai’s transformation of literary precedents was understood by contemporaries to be the performance of an unofficial role or unnamed office on the part of a nobleman who had fashioned a distinct philosophical persona. The office was that of private judgemental mediator between expert knowledge and lived experience—both his own experience and that of his ‘friends and family’. The chapter begins with discussion of Florio’s Montaigne, then analyses the ‘Apology for Raymond Sebond’, before focusing on Essais II 37 and the Journal de Voyage. In the latter case, the topic is Montaigne’s relationship to early modern medicine, his experience of spas and baths, and the way he mediates the revived art of balneology for his patrons and readers.
