There are two French versions of Ancrene Wisse. One of these, which is preserved in London, British Library, Cotton Vitellius F. vii, has been examined in some depth. The other, known as the Vie de...Show moreThere are two French versions of Ancrene Wisse. One of these, which is preserved in London, British Library, Cotton Vitellius F. vii, has been examined in some depth. The other, known as the Vie de gent de religion, has been examined far less, and its place on the stemma of Ancrene Wisse has not been firmly established. This article seeks to establish its place on this stemma by using the two methods that scholars traditionally use to establish more “original” readings: source analysis and the common error method. Although it may come as a surprise to those familiar with Ancrene Wisse, both of these methods suggest that this French version preserves “original” readings that are missing in the English versions. The second part of this article, which explores the implications of this evidence and the key question of the Vie’s language of composition, shows that large sections of the Vie preserve rhyme, which calls into question the traditional argument that poetic elements in the English version of Ancrene Wisse suggest that it precedes the French. These and other findings presented here suggest that while the relationship between Ancrene Wisse and the Vie is often treated as a closed question, the issue is far more complex than has previously been acknowledged. Show less
Abstract || In the literary imagination of Martha Luisa Hernández Cadenas (Havana, 1991) insects appear in various places. In Días de hormigas (Days of the Ants) the trail of ants indicates a... Show moreAbstract || In the literary imagination of Martha Luisa Hernández Cadenas (Havana, 1991) insects appear in various places. In Días de hormigas (Days of the Ants) the trail of ants indicates a direction to a form of life and freedom in the midst of a landscape of devastation, a landscape that also returns in Extintos. Aquí no vuelan mariposas (Extintos. Butterflies Don’t Fly Here) (2018), while in La puta y el hurón (The Whore and the Ferret) (2020) the mosquitoes serve as a formulation of resistance to a violent and patriarchal order. In this article I study the role of insects in the work of this young Cuban writer and performer and I affirm that, despite the scenarios of collapse and ruins, the writer also builds an idea of futurity and of community. Drawing on the work of Rosi Braidotti I argue that the abject, the liminal and a particular temporality are intertwined in the becoming-insect and the becoming-woman for an articulation of resilience. Through alliances between “infra-beings”, becoming molecule and becoming imperceptible, I maintain that the becoming-insect functions as a mode of resistance and dissent.Resumen || En el imaginario literario de Martha Luisa Hernández Cadenas (La Habana, 1991) aparecen insectos por varios lugares. En Días de hormigas el rastro de las hormigas indica una dirección de vida y libertad en medio de un paisaje de devastación, paisaje que vuelve también en Extintos. Aquí no vuelan mariposas (2018), mientras que en La puta y el hurón (2020) los mosquitos formulan una resistencia al orden violento y patriarcal. En este artículo estudiaré el papel de los insectos en la obra de esta joven escritora y performer cubana. Argumento que, a pesar de los escenarios de derrumbes y ruinas, construye también una idea de futuro y de comunidad. Con la ayuda de Rosi Braidotti, propongo que en el devenir insecto y en el devenir mujer se entrelazan lo abyecto, lo liminal y un estar fuera del tiempo que permite articular formas de resiliencia. Mediante las alianzas entre los «infraseres», en el volverse molécula y en el hacerse imperceptible, sostengo que el devenir insecto funciona como un modo de resistir y disentir.Keywords || Insects | Cuban literature | Posthuman feminism | Women writing | Latin America Show less
The terms “politics” and “political” have become so overdetermined that it is difficult to use them in any effective manner. We argue that this has dangerous political consequences, and that this... Show moreThe terms “politics” and “political” have become so overdetermined that it is difficult to use them in any effective manner. We argue that this has dangerous political consequences, and that this could be addressed by providing a new, sounder, notion of politics. This paper argues that defining politics in relation to the notion of play can provide a notion both intuitively appealing and able to withstand the problematic overdeterminations. We argue that politics is the set of practices through which the indeterminate of Spielraum is made more determinate. This suggests that politics is always partly a matter of play: it is about instituting values without making any claims about the legitimacy of this instituting act. With reference to Huizinga and Nietzsche’s analyses of play, we define play as the living unity of seriousness and frivolity, and non-play as either seriousness without frivolity or frivolity without seriousness. In order to illustrate this, we comparatively analyse the attitudes of Barack Obama and Donald Trump in the single context of the well-known yearly White House Correspondent’s Dinner. There, we see two opposed attitudes to playfulness. Our analysis allows us to apply our Spielraum model of politics to show that the thrust of Obama’s attitude involves an embrace of the non-foundational nature of politics as play, whereas Trump’s attitude is politicidal: it is animated by a refusal to acknowledge its own lack of foundation, leading to an oscillation between over-seriousness and over-frivolity. Show less
When Coventry’s central library was destroyed in 1940, valuable early guild records were lost. No consensus has emerged regarding which records were lost during the war and which records had been... Show moreWhen Coventry’s central library was destroyed in 1940, valuable early guild records were lost. No consensus has emerged regarding which records were lost during the war and which records had been lost earlier. Identifying these losses is important, because Coventry’s records hold value for the city’s history and — since Coventry was a key site for early theatre — for Britain’s literary history. As this article shows, fewer historical manuscripts were destroyed in 1940 than was once feared. Moreover, the loss of one of these manuscripts is mitigated somewhat by new evidence presented here, which suggests that some of the manuscript’s source material survives. Show less
The Tabula Claudiana or Tabula Lugdunensis, unearthed at Lyon in 1528, preserves part of a speech delivered to the senate in AD 48 by Claudius. The emperor pleads to admit the elites of Gallia... Show moreThe Tabula Claudiana or Tabula Lugdunensis, unearthed at Lyon in 1528, preserves part of a speech delivered to the senate in AD 48 by Claudius. The emperor pleads to admit the elites of Gallia Comata to the Roman senate. This article presents a rhetorical analysis of the speech. Modern readers have labeled the style of the speech ‘bombastic’ and ‘pedantic’, while criticizing its many historical examples. An examination of the speech in terms of inventio, dispositio and elocutio, however, demonstrates that Claudius carefully constructs the ethos of a knowledgeable and open-minded authority. It is argued that two moments of rhetorical persuasion could be distinguished: the senate meeting in Rome and the publication of the bronze inscription at the sanctuary of the Three Gauls at Lugdunum. Not much deliberative rhetoric was perhaps needed to persuade the senators to agree with their emperor; the display of the inscription, on the other hand, could be interpreted as a form of epideictic rhetoric, which may have given a significant boost to the confidence of Roman citizens in Gaul. While some senators in Rome may have disliked the lengthy historical exempla as part of the oral speech, visitors of the sanctuary in Lugdunum may have appreciated seeing Gaul included in the long history of Rome. Show less
This article takes a discourse pragmatic approach to the Latin text of the Tabula Lugdunensis. The speech by the emperor Claudius from 48 CE is known for its syntactical complexities. By explaining... Show moreThis article takes a discourse pragmatic approach to the Latin text of the Tabula Lugdunensis. The speech by the emperor Claudius from 48 CE is known for its syntactical complexities. By explaining Claudius’s Latin, I aim to illustrate that a discourse pragmatic approach is more fruitful than a strictly syntactical analysis. First, I discuss the outline of the speech, addressing the way in which both the organisation at the text level and Claudius’s actio may have helped his live public in processing the speech. Then, I use the concept of discourse act to approach Claudius’s actio and segmentation of his speech at the sentence level. I make a distinction between central, orientational, supporting and digressive discourse acts to analyse the nature of the sequences in Claudius’ brief biographies of Numa, Tarquinius Priscus and Servius Tullius. Show less
As the COVID-19 pandemic has made it palpable, anxieties can turn into pervasive affects with detrimental effects on the psychological well-being of the individual. To be anxious is to be on edge,... Show moreAs the COVID-19 pandemic has made it palpable, anxieties can turn into pervasive affects with detrimental effects on the psychological well-being of the individual. To be anxious is to be on edge, not only psychologically, but also ontologically and existentially; or to use Heidegger’s terms, it is to be in a state of “groundless floating”. 1 Ranging from general anxiety, PTSD, OCD, and phobias to the simple sentiment of being out of sort, anxieties operate as harbingers of imminent disruptions. Often linked with the concept of “disorder”, anxieties are mostly mentioned in a context that frames personal and socio-economic behavioural patterns in terms of pathology, normality, and abnormality, which implicitly refer to normative views of what constitutes a fulfilled, ’good’ life. It is no coincidence that anxiety, as a heightened state of insecurity and being-alarmed, has been on the rise because of the radical transformations of the welfare state and the liberalisation (i.e., deregulation) of the labour market. These macroeconomic factors have eroded former assurances and made normative fantasies of the ‘good life’, centred around notions of upward mobility, job security, meritocracy, increasingly unattainable. Lauren Berlant famously called “the emergence of a precarious public sphere” in which “optimistic objects/scenarios that had once held the space open for the good-life fantasy”, while under pressure, are still the object of our strife, a state of “cruel optimism.” 2 While anxiety seems to be omnipresent, it also runs counter to what has been described as the official happiness agenda, i.e., the ensemble of practices and instruments to measure and foster our sense of contentment, Show less
By examining the iconised photographs of the COVID-19 pandemic, published under the heading of The Great Empty by the New York Times in March 2020, this article explores the aesthetic operations... Show more By examining the iconised photographs of the COVID-19 pandemic, published under the heading of The Great Empty by the New York Times in March 2020, this article explores the aesthetic operations and ethical implications of representing anxiety through photographing desolate landscapes. To do so, it situates these images within the genre of late photography, also known as aftermath photography, to discuss how emptiness can function as a surrogate for anxiety. First, by foregrounding the unique temporality of the landscape genre in photography, it examines the aesthetic dimension of seeing deserted places in photographs. By shifting its focus from the image to its caption, it then discusses how the caption of such photographs can interpolate an ethical dimension onto them. Finally, by drawing on Giorgio Agamben’s philosophy of “gesture,” the article puts forward that the combination of aestheticized photographs with ethicised captions in The Great Empty expresses anxiety as a mode of gesturality: a sui generis communicational mode that simultaneously galvanizes and paralyzes the viewer. Show less
