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Jerome McGann and Paper Plans. April 15, 2007

Posted by jophine in : Criticism, Hero, Hilarious Things , comments closed

It’s safe to say that this weekend was pretty sweet. Among other things (not all of which were Byron-related),  I met Jerome McGann (which is about as Byron-related as you can get without being Ada Byron or syphilis.) We had a good hour-long conversation, and then he left.  Before I get to the work part of this post, though, I’d like to announce that if I get into grad school at UVA, Jerome McGann says he’ll be my advisor, which is pretty super-awesome.  So, yay me!  I think that’s enough ego-boosting.  (Though, I have to admit, in the face of a man whose books I’m using, I felt kind of like a blithering idiot. It was really intimidating, and the only thing that really put me at ease was saying more smart-sounding words.)

Because of the visit, I’ve decided to shift my focus. I’m still working with Cain as the model, so the title of the paper can — and will — stay. But now I’ve decided to spend all of part three of three talking strictly about Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage; after describing my thesis to him, Dr. McGann pointed out a number of passages in canto 4 which not only illustrate the reconciliation described in canto 3, but do it with this really pretty metaphor, reminiscent of Tennyson’s Ulysses. I want to look at the construction of Harold in canti 1 and 2, and look harder at the Albanian section of 2; there’s some kind of resolution there, where Harold/Byron temporarily finds peace. I think the reason why might be because the Albanians don’t — in Byron’s mind — have a historical sanctity to violate. That’ll be a good discussion, I think.

Things I’ve decided not to do: Though it would be awesome, I don’t think I have the time to compare and contrast Byron’s hero with the epic hero and the pastoral hero. That means no genre studies, which means I can’t really bring in the cute moment in DJ canto 4, where Apollo plucks at Byron’s ear. Sorry, Virgil’s sixth eclogue! There’s no room for you! Also, I’ve decided to make Don Juan more a part of the conclusion, with only a short discussion of how Byron might have gotten DJ to the French Revolution and his death.

So there’s that.

Rest of the paper outline:

ii. Heroic evidence in Manfred, The Giaour, Beppo (if I get around to reading it), and “Prometheus”

– Present circumstances: things really suck. Manfred talks about his present, where we are with the Giaour, Prometheus chained to the rock.

– Different types of personal history: things used to really suck.

> The ellipsis with Astarte, and a one-sided dialogue with history.

> The events in the Giaour, and how they’re told.

> Prometheus and Zeus: ow, my precious insides (history or present circumstance?)

– Different types of absorbed history: even without me, things kind of sucked.

> Prometheus seeing visions of the future.

> What is in the Giaour? Will this even work?

> The awe-inspiring AWESOME POINT: Manfred and Geological history.

– Attempts at reconciliation

> “Prometheus”: introduction to death. Is death a victory? If it is for a demi-god, is it for man?

> The Giaour: failure. Death as submission to the pressures of memory.

> Manfred: success. Death on one’s own terms.

iii. Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage: the evolution of the Byronic hero

STUFF GOES HERE.

iv. Epilogue and Conclusions: Don Juan

STUFF GOES HERE.

I guess I should finish that outline some day.

Procrastinating. April 11, 2007

Posted by jophine in : Hilarious Things, Miscellany , comments closed

In honor of me finally starting my paper, I have stayed up until three am wasting my time and making Byron headers. I’ve put up a new one to commemorate the fantastic title of my paper, given to my project by my oh-so-insightful roommate.

Here is the original header (sorry for the thumbnail, but the full sized ones get truncated):

Byron

And the new one:

Cain
And three more, that I plan on eventually cycling in, but are now just here for the sake of amusement:

Shelleys

Manfred

Lakies

Well, I thought they were funny. Paper sections to be posted.

Milton, Byron, and Intertextuality. March 23, 2007

Posted by jophine in : Childe Harold, Dramatic Plays, Hilarious Things, Miscellany , comments closed

Just got back from a third of the Milton Read-a-thon, having wimped out after only four hours. I had to put something down, though:


I have not loved the world, nor the world me;

I have not flattered its rank breath, nor bow’d


To its idolatries a patient knee,–


nor coin’d my cheek to smiles,– nor cried aloud


In worship of an echo; in the crowd


They could not deem me one of such; I stood


Among them, but not of them; in a shroud


Of thoughts which were not their thoughts, and still could,


Had I not filed my mind, which thus itself subdued. (CHP, Canto III, stanza 113).

 

Versus:

This knows my punisher; therefore as farr
From granting hee, as I from begging peace:
All hope excluded thus, behold in stead
Of us out-cast, exil’d, his new delight,
Mankind created, and for him this World.
So farewel Hope, and with Hope farewel Fear,
Farewel Remorse: all Good to me is lost;
Evil be thou my Good; by thee at least
Divided Empire with Heav’ns King I hold
By thee, and more then half perhaps will reigne;
As Man ere long, and this new World shall know. (Paradise Lost, Book IV, lines 103-113).

This is so much cooler in my head. I have to reread Cain. Oh man, why didn’t I read Milton earlier?

Two figs… March 15, 2007

Posted by jophine in : Hilarious Things, Miscellany , comments closed

I had a good revelation in the shower, and I wanted to write them down before I forgot.

1. The other day, Sophie and I were laughing about the feminine theory model for narrative structure (multiple climaxes), and I got to thinking that Manfred, The Giaour, and to an extent Childe Harolds I & II have a structure of climax without catharsis. I might have to reread the climactic scene in Don Juan I as well, but I think it follows.

2. Don Juan I has a very interesting narrator — one who can make fun of Southey and Wordsworth (and really, don’t they deserve it?) but also one who can comment on the state of Spanish politics and sometimes looks upon Don Juan like a character he knows personally. What is Byron doing here? At the beginning of DJ II, he does a similar thing, ironically making fun of English poets. Not just one unreliable narrator, but two? Heaven help us.