This thesis compares the uses of the classical underworld descent, or katabasis, in three contemporary English-language authors, women and/or Black writers, as an instrument to express their... Show moreThis thesis compares the uses of the classical underworld descent, or katabasis, in three contemporary English-language authors, women and/or Black writers, as an instrument to express their poetics. It focuses on one central text from each author, contextualizing its use of katabasis within the author's larger oeuvre. For this analysis, use has been made of Conceptual Metaphor Theory and cognitive theory of allegory, theories of metaliterature and intertextuality, and transgeneric narratology. Katabasis has proven to hold a central position in the oeuvre of all three authors, albeit in very different ways. In the work of Boland and Naylor, the motif is omni-present. Boland maps katabasis onto the moment of poetic creativity, in which access to the female underworld is attempted, but nevertheless remains barred. Naylor's work combines the various regions of Dante's afterlife with western esotericism, offering a somewhat happier prospect for women and writing. For Walcott, on the other hand, katabasis is omni-present in his magnum opus Omeros only, and is applied as a final reckoning with his literary critics. Thus, for all three authors katabasis has proven to be used as an instrument to appropriate the western literary canon and to define their poetics. Show less
Considering that early modern scholars often referred to the Middle Ages as an uncouth period of darkness and ignorance, it is surprising that humanist historians by no means neglected the era. The... Show moreConsidering that early modern scholars often referred to the Middle Ages as an uncouth period of darkness and ignorance, it is surprising that humanist historians by no means neglected the era. The central hypothesis of this book is that the ways in which historians such as Reynier Snoy, Adrianus Barlandus, Petrus Divaeus, and Janus Dousa Sr described the medieval past can be explained by the political context from which their writings originated and in which they were often directly involved. This context was marked by upheavals caused by factors such as the Habsburg centralization policy, the Reformation, and the Dutch Revolt. This book brings forward key characteristics of early modern medievalism, showing how concepts of the medieval were used as rhetorical tools, how medieval forms and ideals were appropriated, and how the classical heritage was involved in the representation of the medieval. This analysis is informed by an approach to historical writing that differs from what is common in the study of sixteenth-century historiography. Historiography is regarded not as a means to uncover the historical truth, but as narrative rhetoric. It deploys narrative techniques and intertextual allusions and plays with genre expectations in order to convey its message. Show less
