176th anniversary of Mark Twain's Birth

"Mark Twain was addicted to practical jokes—especially when they were jokes he
played on other people. One day, when he was looking out the window of an editor’s
office on the third floor of a building, he noticed a friend of his standing immediately
below. Unfortunately for his friend, Mr. Twain had just been made the recipient of
the gift of a watermelon by the editor. You can guess what happened to the friend and
the watermelon. Still, Mr. Twain reflected, the friend came out ahead because the
practical joke spoiled the watermelon, making it unsuitable for eating." (David Bruce)

 

 

Research International Conference: Tennessee Williams

This week, we're excited to welcome John S. Back, Ugo Rubeo, Peter W. Ferran, Annette Saddik, Félix Martín Gutiérrez and María Soledad Sánchez Gómez to the School of Art, Language and Literature Studies, in the Universidad de Extremadura (Cáceres), Spain.

Organised by:
Department of English
Department of Modern Languages and Comparative Literatures

International Tennessee Williams Centennial Conference:
"Embracing the Island of His Self"
http://gexcall.unex.es/twilliamsconference/node/11

Enjoy it!

Political ideology and Pope’s poetic style

“See my lips tremble, and my eye-balls roll,/ Suck my last breath, and catch my flying soul!” (Alexander Pope)

Ideologically conservative and stylistically innovative, Alexander Pope throws his literary darts at the triviality and banality that characterised the fashionable behaviour of the nouveax riches in “The Rape of the Lock”. Pope produces and derides the grandilocuent and flamboyant rhetoric that the mock-heroic mode demands. This use of language, added to his mastery of the satirical style, allows for a harsh criticism against both the bankrupt aristocracy that has married bourgeois money and those bourgeois à la mode whose trendy behaviour is merely the result of a marriage with the ruined gentry of the ancient regime. Thereby, mocking the excessively baroque language of auto-of-plays and time epics, Pope indirectly proclaims the goodness of the Royal Society’s stylistic recommendations; and the stupidity, if not the moral perversion, of the new combination-marriage between the new moneyed and the old ruined classes.

                                           (One of Urano's satellites named after Pope's 'Belinda')

Seen from this angle, Belinda is dealt with as an object, as a consumer good or even a toy, and Pope’s parodic and satirical presentation of the story implies a firm rejection of the game in which a woman is reified. This author, that is to say, may have been a male chauvinist, but in this particular case he sees indecency in what probably the majority of men would have seen only an amusing game. Once again, ideologically perspective and style prove to be bosom friends.

Think before you Speak -- Thanksgiving Round Up

Happy Thanksgiving, America. Or commiserations on the National Day of Mourning, depending on your point of view.



(Norman Rockwell, via)



• Talking about the White House, you can watch President Obama pardon this year's turkey, Liberty.

• Musical interlude: the Washington Post has been collating a list of Thanksgiving songs via Twitter. Warning: bad puns ahead.

• Or how about a Lady Gaga Thanksgiving Special? Apparently she'll be making waffles. No, really.

• Of course, the story that's rather dominating this Thanksgiving is the news that some retailers aren't going to wait until Black Friday to start their traditional price-slashing. Instead, they're starting sales on Thanksgiving itself, resulting in protests from employees and consumers alike. More from PRI and the Washington Post.

Translation "The Rape of the Lock" -- Traducción Canto I

Canto I (versos 1-19)

Qué ofensa cruel de amor se causara,
y las trivialidades que formara
un vanal asunto que yo canto.
¡Oh, musa! A Caryl debo mi canto.

Pequeño es el asunto que leyera
aunque gloria y diosa no lo fuera.

Si mis versos ella dulce inspira
y con benignos ojos él los mira,
¿cuál es el motivo por el que osa
caballero a asaltar a dama hermosa?

A una noble beldad, y por qué fue
el más severocon extraño desdén
hombrecillos, como el lord desdeñado.

Por las cortinas del sedal nevado
el sol lanzó un tímido rayo
que toca los ojos al despertarse.
Los perros falderos se agitan al alzarse,
amantes despiertan al mediodía
mientras Belinda eclipsa al día.

Luis Conejero

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

To celebrate Thanksgiving Day I would like to share with all my readers the next tale written by the famous North-American writer Louisa May Alcott (author of Little Women, among others).

An Old-Fashioned Thanksgivingby Louisa May Alcott
(1832-1888)

---

"SIXTY YEARS AGO, up among the New Hampshire hills, lived Farmer Bassett, with a houseful of sturdy sons and daughters growing up about him. They were poor in money, but rich in land and love, for the wide acres of wood, corn, and pasture land fed, warmed, and clothed the flock, while mutual patience, affection, and courage made the old farmhouse a very happy home. (...)"

You can read the whole tale here: http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/lmalcott/bl-lmalc-old-fashion.htm

Women in "The Rape of the Lock" -- Useless or powerful?

At a first glance, “The Rape of the Lock” appears to portray women as useless individuals whose sole purpose is to serve as a prize for the male population. Following a more thorough examination, however, we can identify that the women of this poem are not as powerless as we had first believed them to be, and that also their role in the poem is a rather important one.

Belinda for example is at the very centre of the poem, and without her there would be no story. Surrounding Belinda are several other characters, which one must note, are mainly made up of females.

If we analyse with more detail the importance of Belinda we can further support the argument that women are more powerful than we first perceive them to be. The fact that Belinda is in need of protection can at first be seen as a sign of weakness. However, one could also say that the attention and care that she receives is proof of her importance, or even, her power.

Another example of the relevance of women is shown to us through Thalestris’s words, “Already hear the horrid things they say,/Already see you a degraded Toast,/And all your Honour in a Whisper lost!/How shall I, then, your helpless Fame defend?/'Twill then be Infamy to seem your Friend!” (Canto IV, 108-112). The persuasion used by Thakestri here demonstrates to the reader her strength and power.

It is quite hard to take anything from Pope’s mock-epic at face value, and the above examples can most likely be understood in different ways. However it is fairly evident that Pope did not find the women of his time to be entirely powerless. Rather, they were at the core of little social storms, the catalysts for days of card games within their small groups that were indeed their entire world and their only worry. 

JFK Memory

At 12.30 p.m. on Nov. 22, 1963, some military soldiers were calm and relax. A couple of minutes later, they were standing under order, awaiting commands,weapon in hand.

The president of the United States had just been shot, twice, while riding in a presidential motorcade in Dallas.

At 1 p.m., President John F. Kennedy was declared dead.

Apparently, his favourite poem was Alan Seeger's  "I have a rendezvous with death".

Transgender Day of Remembrance and its Literature

In memory of those killed by anti-transgender hatred or prejudice and also those who have been victims of transphobia resulting in suicide.

It raises public awareness of hate crimes against transgender people, an action that current media doesn't perform. Day of Remembrance publicly mourns and honors the lives of our brothers and sisters who might otherwise be forgotten.

Day of Remembrance gives allies a chance to step forward with trans people and stand in vigil, memorializing those who have died by anti-transgender violence.

We should remember, in such a special day, Kilian Meloy's quotation:

"In a historical sense, literature as we understand it is a fairly new innovation, and the current concept of homosexuality is even fresher from the cultural oven. It's no great surprise, then, that gay literature — or even gay characters in literature — are so relatively new as to still be shiny." (AfterElton.com / Influential Gay Characters in Literature)

Some examples of this 'queer literature' can be found in many mythologies and religious narratives that included stories of sex or romantic affection between men; in a lot of vampire stories, in some teen literature ...

Another way of approaching The Rape of the Lock

Poppies in the battlefield

Due to being the only flowers growing in some battlefields during World War I, along with the inspiration for John McCrae's poem "In Flanders Fields" and the only company that hundreds of thousands of soldiers had in their graves, poppies have become a symbol of the memorial that we owe them.

A more legible version of the poem can be found in: http://librivox.org/in-flanders-fields-by-john-mccrae/

The Scriblerus Club and its Treasures

After doing a bit of research on 'The Scriblerus Club', I found -- in one of my favourite web pages on the Internet (Trend Hunter) -- some images and an interesting background information about this hidden treasure. It is an 18-karat gold antique timepiece that was given to John Gay by writer Jonathan Swift.

http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/scriblerus-club-pocket-watch#!/photos/84650/1

Remember, remember ... Gunpowder Plot (2)

“Remember, remember, the Fifth of November, the Gunpowder Treason and Plot. I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot... But what of the man? I know his name was Guy Fawkes and I know, in 1605, he attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament...”

(Evey Hammond, V for Vendetta)

In relation to the Bonfire Night some of friends in England celebrated last Saturday, I would like to share with all of you one of my favourite movies, V for Vendetta (2006), based on the revolutionary Gunpowder Plot. The film, based on one of Alan Moore’s comics, treated the misunderstood Gunpowder Plot from a modern point of view, dealing with topics such as homosexuality, totalitarianism... Enjoy this clip and watch the film!

Jesuit 'Fawky' Treason or Puritan invention?

On November 5th one commemorates Guy Fawkes Night, generally known as Firework or Bonfire Night. As is well known, Roman Catholics, especially the Jesuits, were accused of the Gunpowder Plot, which was allegedly intended to blow up the House of Lords in 1605; and to replace King James I by his more militantly Catholic daughter, princess Elizabeth.

Guy Fawkes, a professional soldier, was discovered guarding a huge amount of gunpowder, arrested, convicted and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. And so was Father Henry Garnet, the head of the Jesuit order in England. The Puritans took advantage of this event to denigrate Roman Catholics, especially the Jesuits and the Pope, and still nowadays this day is celebrated.

Related with this event we can find songs like this one. Enjoy it!

Don't you Remember,
The Fifth of November,
'Twas Gunpowder Treason Day,
I let off my gun,
And made'em all run.
And Stole all their Bonfire away. (1742)