DOCSLIB.ORG

Georgetown University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in German

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Georgetown University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in German “‘ON THE VERGE OF HEARING’: EPISTEMOLOGY AND THE POETICS OF LISTENING IN THE HUMAN-NIXIE ENCOUNTER IN GERMAN LITERATURE” A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in German By Deva Fall Kemmis Hicks, M.A. Washington, DC April 18, 2012 Copyright 2012 by Deva Fall Kemmis Hicks All Rights Reserved ii “‘ON THE VERGE OF HEARING’: EPISTEMOLOGY AND THE POETICS OF LISTENING IN THE HUMAN-NIXIE ENCOUNTER IN GERMAN LITERATURE” Deva Fall Kemmis Hicks, M.A. Thesis Advisor: G. Ronald Murphy, Ph.D. ABSTRACT This dissertation examines selected texts of German literature in which a human being gains access to knowledge outside human scope by means of an encounter with the water nixie, seen in her mythological variations as siren, water sprite, undine, melusine, nymph, or mermaid. Texts to be considered include Das Nibelungenlied (ca. 1200), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s “Der Fischer” (ca. 1779), Franz Kafka’s “Das Schweigen der Sirenen” (1917), Ingeborg Bachmann’s “Undine Geht” (1961), and Johannes Bobrowski’s “Undine” (1964). In each of these texts it is not the eyes that play the central role in the epistemological character of the human-nixie encounter, but the ears. In this project I argue that the human posture of attentive listening that precedes the encounter with the nixie indicates a state of readiness that leads to a moment of extraordinary awareness, in which the epistemological experience is transformational. Further, I suggest that poetry plays a pivotal role in the moment of epiphany, or of transformational knowing, for the reader. By pursuing the hypothesis that audial awareness underlies the moment of epiphany, both on the textual and poetological levels, it is my intention to contribute to the scholarship on the nature of the encounter between the mythical and the human in literature as a figuration of the larger epistemological confrontation between the eye and the ear, particularly with respect to the transformative potential of this encounter and its poetological implications. iii This dissertation is dedicated to my Doktorvater, Fr. Ronald Murphy, for inspiring me to work from the heart. I wish to thank Professors Peter Pfeiffer and Mary Helen Dupree for their invaluable guidance and support of my work. To Arthur and Walter, who taught me to listen to the sirens singing, and to my family and friends, thank you. AMDG Deva F. Kemmis Hicks iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction………………………………………………………………………………1 Chapter 1: Early Encounters: Homer’s Odyssey and Hagen and the Merewîp in the Nibelungenlied………………………………………………………………………….. 18 Chapter 2: Becoming the Listener: Goethe’s “Der Fischer” (ca. 1779)………………....44 Chapter 3: “Es war nie zu Ende”: Ingeborg Bachmann’s “Undine Geht” (1961)……….85 Chapter 4: “Hörbar leben im Dach”: the Sound of Awakening in Johannes Bobrowski’s “Undine” (1964)…………………………………………………………..136 Conclusion: Waves of Poetry and the Moment of Epiphany……………………………178 Primary Literature……………………………………………………………….………188 Secondary Literature…………………………………………………………………….190 v INTRODUCTION …Und seine Sinne waren wie entzweit: Indes der Blick ihm wie ein Hund vorauslief, umkehrte, kam und wieder weit und wartend an der nächsten Wendung stand,- blieb sein Gehör wie ein Geruch zurück. Manchmal erschien es ihm als reichte es bis an das Gehen jener beiden andern, die folgen sollten diesen ganzen Aufstieg. Rilke, “Orpheus. Eurydike. Hermes.” (24-31) …For the listener, who listens in the snow, And, nothing himself, beholds Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is. Wallace Stevens, “The Snow Man.” (13-15) When Oedipus learned that he had killed his father and married his mother, he dashed out his own eyes with his mother’s brooches, torn from her robe as she swung, having just hung herself. The chorus asks him, “Doer of dreadful deeds, how did you dare so far to do despite to your own eyes?” (Sophocles, 1327-9). After initially blaming Apollo, Oedipus replies, “But the hand that struck me was none but my own. Why should I see/ whose vision showed me nothing sweet to see?” (1335). Prized as the great intellect and riddle-solver, Oedipus lived without understanding what his eyes showed him. His knowledge of his life and family was illusory, and when he learned the truth of who he was, Oedipus no longer wished to see. In destroying his eyesight, Oedipus’ gruesome act is an indictment of his intellect and the sway it held in his life. A short time later Oedipus goes on, -with what eyes shall I look upon my people? No. If there were a means to choke the fountain 1 of hearing I would not have stayed my hand from locking up my miserable carcass, seeing and hearing nothing; it is sweet to keep our thoughts out of the range of hurt. (1385-90) The two faculties Oedipus identifies as the sources of knowledge and pain -- sight and hearing -- are the conduits he would remove altogether if he could. The emphasis on the role of the eyes as the primary organ of the epistemological endeavor has a long history, particularly prominent in the European Enlightenment (Kord 61- 78).1 Listening, as key element in the epistemological process, is often overshadowed in this history.2 This project will examine selected texts of German literature in which a human being gains access to knowledge outside human scope by means of an encounter with a supernatural being: the water nixie, seen in its mythological variations as water sprite, undine, melusine, selkie, siren, nymph, or mermaid.3 Texts to be considered include Das Nibelungenlied (ca. 1200), Goethe’s “Der Fischer” (1779), Kafka’s “Das Schweigen der Sirenen” (1917), Ingeborg Bachmann’s “Undine Geht” (1961), and Johannes Bobrowski’s “Undine” (1964). In each of 1 Albert Borgmann discusses this in terms of the etymology and history of the word “focus”, which as he notes took on a relation to the optical in the writings of Johannes Kepler. Technology 197. O’Callahan traces the dominance of the visual in terms of discourses of perception to philosophy’s modern era, in which he refers to the work of Kepler, Newton, Descartes and Berkeley 2. 2 Herder’s argument as to the medial and therefore key role that hearing plays among the senses in the invention and use of human language is an important exception. See Abhandlung über den Ursprung der Sprache 57-62. 3 For a history of nixie figure in world literature see Frenzel Motive der Weltliteratur. Ein Lexikon dichtungsgeschichtlicher Längsschnitte 774-788, and for an account of the motiv in the Germanic tradition see Grimm Deutsche Mythologie, 244, 275-278. For a comprehensive classification of the nixie motif in world mythologies see Stith Thompson, Motif-index of folk-literature; a Classification of Narrative Elements in Folktales, Ballads, Myths (Sirens Vol. 1 pg. 369; Water Sprites Vol. 2 pg. 31; Marvels Vol. 3 F200-F399; Mermaids, Vol. 5 pg. 371). See also Austern and Nardoditskaya’s history of the siren figure in its different iterations in western and world literature in Music of the Sirens, especially Chapter 1, “Sirens in Antiquity and the Middle Ages” by Leofranc Holford-Strevens 16-52. 2 these texts it is not the eyes that play the central role in the epistemological character of the human-nixie encounter, but the ears. In this project I argue that the human posture of attentive listening that precedes the encounter with the nixie indicates a state of readiness that leads to a moment of extraordinary awareness, in which the epistemological experience is transformational. I will read these encounters in each text as figurations for the epistemological confrontation between sight and hearing. On the poetological level, I read these representations of the encounter between human and nixie as symbolic of the dialogue between reader and text, which likewise may give rise to a moment of exceptional awareness for the reader.4 This inquiry takes Albert Borgmann’s elaboration of focal occasions as the primary theoretical framework for the analysis of the representations of the human-nixie encounter in the primary texts under consideration. In his 2007 essay, Borgmann elaborates on his notion of a key condition of the meaningful human life, which he coins the focal occasion. Borgmann defines this term as a moment in which “the meaning of life comes into focus” and cites a dinner at home, a campfire in the wilderness or an evening of music as examples. These events will not always be focal occasions, of course -- Borgmann points out how preparations for the evening meal may be experienced on a given day as simple drudgery -- but they have the potential to take on that quality, especially if care is given to one’s larger life circumstances (Technology 209). 4 I define poetological as the level on which the interaction between text, author and reader is thematized. I take Hans Georg Gadamer’s hermeneutic approach to the aesthetic experience as a point of departure for the scope of possibility for dialogue at this level, discussed in both Wahrheit und Methode and in his later essays in Ästhetik und Poetik I: Kunst als Aussage. With Gadamer, I take Aristotle’s theory of anagnorisis as developed in the Poetics as foundational. Ronald Murphy’s exposition of realization theory, for instance in The Owl, the Raven and the Dove, serves as a present-day elucidation of Aristotle’s approach to aesthetics. These are the most instructive theoretical frameworks for my understanding of the potential scope and character of the aesthetic experience, which I will refer to in this work as the poetological level. 3 The epistemological question as to the precipitating conditions that underlie the moment of epiphany that is at the center of my work is informed by Borgmann’s conception of the focal occasion, but also draws on his work on the concept of focus, focal practices, and attentiveness.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Canadian Guiding Badges and Insignia Brownie Six/Circle Emblems
    Canadian Guiding Badges And Insignia Brownie Six/Circle Emblems Following the introduction of the Brownie program to provide Guiding for younger girls, and after the decision to base the new program on The Brownie Story, a further decision was made in 1919 to subdivide a Brownie Pack into smaller groups consisting of six girls. These smaller groups within the Pack were known as Sixes and were identified by a Six emblem bearing the name of some mythical fairy- like person from folklore. [Reference: POR (British, 1919)] The original Six emblems were brown felt; later versions were brown cotton with the edges bound in brown. In 1995, the term “Sixes” was replaced by the term “Circles”, and the shape of the emblems was changed as well. In 1972, three of the original twelve Six emblems were retired and in 1995 four new ones were added. Page 1 V.2 Canadian Guiding Badges And Insignia Brownie Six/Circle Emblems SC0001 SC0002 Bwbachod Badge Discontinued 1919- 19? 19? - 1972 SC0003 SC0004 Djinn Introduced 1994 1995-2004 1994 SC0005 SC0006 Dryad Introduced 1994 1995- 1994 Page 2 V.2 Canadian Guiding Badges And Insignia Brownie Six/Circle Emblems SC0007 SC0008 SC0009 Elf 1919-19? 19? - 1995 1995- SC0010 SC0011 SC0012 Fairy 1919-19? 19? - 1995 1995- SC0013 SC0014 Ghillie Dhu Badge Discontinued 1919-19? 19? - 1972 Page 3 V.2 Canadian Guiding Badges And Insignia Brownie Six/Circle Emblems SC0015 SC0016 SC0017 Gnome 1995- 1919-19? 19? - 1995 SC0018 SC0019 Imp Badge Discontinued 1919-19? 19? - 1995 SC0020 SC0021 SC0022 Kelpie (formerly called Scottish
    [Show full text]
  • Georg Trakl. Dichter Im Jahrzehnt Der Extreme
    Leseprobe aus: Rüdiger Görner Georg Trakl Dichter im Jahrzehnt der Extreme Mehr Informationen zum Buch finden Sie auf www.hanser-literaturverlage.de © Paul Zsolnay Verlag Wien 2014 Rüdiger Görner Georg Trakl Dichter im Jahrzehnt der Extreme Paul Zsolnay Verlag 1 2 3 4 5 18 17 16 15 14 ISBN 978-3-552-05697-8 Alle Rechte vorbehalten © Paul Zsolnay Verlag Wien 2014 Satz: Eva Kaltenbrunner-Dorfinger, Wien Druck und Bindung: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck Printed in Germany für Oliver Kohler Puis j’expliquai mes sophismes magiques avec l’hallucination des mots! (Dann erklärte ich mir meine magischen Sophismen mit der Halluzination der Worte!) Arthur Rimbaud, Délires (1872/73) Die Gegenwart oktroyiert Formen. Diesen Bannkreis zu überschreiten und andere Formen zu gewinnen, ist das Schöpferische. Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Buch der Freunde (1922) Das Wort des Dichters macht die Dinge schwebend […] Das ist der wahre Rhythmus des Gedichts: daß es das Ding hinträgt zum Menschen, aber daß es zugleich das Ding wieder zurückschweben läßt zum Schöpfer. Max Picard, Wort und Wortgeräusch (1963) Das Böse und das Schöne sind die beiden Heraus- forderungen, die wir annehmen müssen. François Cheng, Meditationen über die Schönheit (2008) Inhalt Vorworthafter Dreiklang . 11 Tagebucheintrag 11 – Zugänge zu Trakl 14 – … und ein einleitendes de profundis 17 Finale Anfänge: Die Sammlung 1909 . 33 Lyrische Stimmungsumfelder 45 – Die Sammlung 1909 oder Das Unverlorne meiner jungen Jahre 52 »Im Rausch begreifst du alles.« Trakls toxisches Schaffen . 64 Entgrenzungsversuche: Wien – Innsbruck – Venedig – Berlin oder Ist überall Salzburg? . 80 Trakls Salzburg-Gedichte 89 – Ein politischer Trakl? 113 Gedichte, 1913 . .. 121 Vorklärungen 121 – Gedichte oder Romanzen mit Raben und Ratten 127 Poetische Farbwelten oder Schwierigkeiten mit dem (lyrischen) Ich .
    [Show full text]
  • Elusive European Monsters Alli Starry
    1 SELKIE Seal by sea and sheds its skin to walk on land in human form. This creature comes from the Irish and Scottish and Faroese folklore to keep their women cautious of men from the sea. 0 375 750 Km 9 KELPIE 2 PHOUKA N A shapeshifting water spirit in the lochs and A shapeshifting goblin sighted by the top of rivers of Scotland. The kelpie is told to warn the River Liffey. Takes drunkards on a wild children away from dangerous waters and women night ride and dumps them in random places. 6 to be wary of strangers. The Kelpie commonly Can be a nice excuse for a takes the shape of a horse with backwards hooves night at the pub. as it carries off its victims. 5 1 3 9 2 8 8 BOLOT N IK 4 A swamp monster originating from Poland. The Bolotnik pretends to be a stepping LOCH NESS 3 stone in a swamp when people pass through, then MON STER moves; causing its victims to fall into the mud where they can then be devoured. Legend has it that Loch Ness, Scotland has plesiosaur living in its depths. Affectionately named Nessie, a fisherman once 7 CET US spotted her surfacing the 7 Cetus is a sea monster from Greek Mythology. loch and Cetus is a mix between the sea serpent and a snapped a Map By: Alli Starry Monster information from Wikipedia whale. Its tale has been passed down through fuzzy picture. Pictures from deviantart.com the ages of Grecian folktales. It now resides World Mercator Projection; WKID: 54004 among the stars as a constellation.
    [Show full text]
  • The Traveling Gnome Project
    The Traveling Gnome Project There is Gnome place home! • Choose a city anywhere in the world • Find a famous structure within that city…preferably something recognizable. • Find a reference of that building • Draw it 3 times (PRACTICE) (one day) • Draw the gnome 3 times (one day) Gnomes are commonly misunda-stood! An Abbreviated History of Garden Gnomes Garden gnomes occupy that same odd niche shared by lawn flamingos and circus- animal topiary; the ultra-kitschy, flamboyant and just-a-little-ridiculous decorations that came to prominence in American suburbs throughout the 1960′s and then latched tenaciously onto our cultural sub consciousness. But unlike flamingos and topiary, gnomes have a long and storied history of folklore and myth to draw upon. Gnomes have been a part of western culture since at least the 16th century with the early writings of Swiss-born alchemist Paracelsus. For many of us, though, our knowledge of the history of garden gnomes really only extends back as far as that one Travelocity commercial. Which is unfortunate, really, because garden gnomes are really the “great grandfathers” of campy garden decor. Theirs is a long and storied history, and a fascinating one to read about. http://www.patioproductions.com/blog/fascinating-stuff/history-of-garden-gnomes/ Back when the Brothers Grimm were traversing the German countryside recording the “volksmarchen” (folk tales) of the country’s rural regions, gnomes were often viewed as spritely, happy-go-lucky garden workers. They helped plants grow, and facilitated harmony between the flora and the fauna of meadows and vegetable patches alike.
    [Show full text]
  • The Inextricable Link Between Literature and Music in 19Th
    COMPOSERS AS STORYTELLERS: THE INEXTRICABLE LINK BETWEEN LITERATURE AND MUSIC IN 19TH CENTURY RUSSIA A Thesis Presented to The Graduate Faculty of The University of Akron In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Music Ashley Shank December 2010 COMPOSERS AS STORYTELLERS: THE INEXTRICABLE LINK BETWEEN LITERATURE AND MUSIC IN 19TH CENTURY RUSSIA Ashley Shank Thesis Approved: Accepted: _______________________________ _______________________________ Advisor Interim Dean of the College Dr. Brooks Toliver Dr. Dudley Turner _______________________________ _______________________________ Faculty Reader Dean of the Graduate School Mr. George Pope Dr. George R. Newkome _______________________________ _______________________________ School Director Date Dr. William Guegold ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. OVERVIEW OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF SECULAR ART MUSIC IN RUSSIA……..………………………………………………..……………….1 Introduction……………………..…………………………………………………1 The Introduction of Secular High Art………………………………………..……3 Nicholas I and the Rise of the Noble Dilettantes…………………..………….....10 The Rise of the Russian School and Musical Professionalism……..……………19 Nationalism…………………………..………………………………………..…23 Arts Policies and Censorship………………………..…………………………...25 II. MUSIC AND LITERATURE AS A CULTURAL DUET………………..…32 Cross-Pollination……………………………………………………………...…32 The Russian Soul in Literature and Music………………..……………………...38 Music in Poetry: Sound and Form…………………………..……………...……44 III. STORIES IN MUSIC…………………………………………………… ….51 iii Opera……………………………………………………………………………..57
    [Show full text]
  • Kansas City Athenaeum Collection (SC160)
    THE KANSAS CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY Kansas City Athenaeum Collection (SC160) Introduction Founded in 1894 through a collaboration of existing women’s clubs, the Kansas City Athenaeum is one of the oldest women’s organizations in the area. The Kansas City Athenaeum Collection contains minutes, yearbooks, scrapbooks, photographs, operational and financial records, clubhouse information and building plans, and ephemera documenting the history of the club. Descriptive Summary Creator: Kansas City Athenaeum Title: Kansas City Athenaeum Collection Dates: 1894-2012 Size: 124.25 linear feet, 230 boxes, 106 loose volumes, 1 map drawer Collection Number: SC160 Donor Information Gift, 2012, Kansas City Athenaeum. Citation Note Kansas City Athenaeum Collection (SC160), Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City, Missouri. Administrative Information Additional Forms Available: Use copies are available for scrapbooks. Related Collections: Additional information concerning the Athenaeum may be found in SC7 Missouri Valley Historical Society Records, as well as the following Vertical Files: Clubs – Kansas City – Athenaeum; and Buildings – Athenaeum Club. Club yearbooks may be found under the call number MVSC 095.2 K16Y V.1895-1956. Other sources concerning the club, its members, and additional women’s organizations may be found by searching the Missouri Valley Special Collections local history collections and the main Library Catalog. Historical Sketch The Kansas City Athenaeum is one of the oldest women’s organizations in Kansas City. Established in the 1894, the initial goal of the Athenaeum was to combine the efforts of several existing women’s clubs into a single organization through which its members would more effectively promote and influence a variety of educational, civic, and philanthropic causes.
    [Show full text]
  • Core Reading List for M.A. in German Period Author Genre Examples
    Core Reading List for M.A. in German Period Author Genre Examples Mittelalter (1150- Wolfram von Eschenbach Epik Parzival (1200/1210) 1450) Gottfried von Straßburg Tristan (ca. 1210) Hartmann von Aue Der arme Heinrich (ca. 1195) Johannes von Tepl Der Ackermann aus Böhmen (ca. 1400) Walther von der Vogelweide Lieder, Oskar von Wolkenstein Minnelyrik, Spruchdichtung Gedichte Renaissance Martin Luther Prosa Sendbrief vom Dolmetschen (1530) (1400-1600) Von der Freyheit eynis Christen Menschen (1521) Historia von D. Johann Fausten (1587) Das Volksbuch vom Eulenspiegel (1515) Der ewige Jude (1602) Sebastian Brant Das Narrenschiff (1494) Barock (1600- H.J.C. von Grimmelshausen Prosa Der abenteuerliche Simplizissimus Teutsch (1669) 1720) Schelmenroman Martin Opitz Lyrik Andreas Gryphius Paul Fleming Sonett Christian v. Hofmannswaldau Paul Gerhard Aufklärung (1720- Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Prosa Fabeln 1785) Christian Fürchtegott Gellert Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Drama Nathan der Weise (1779) Bürgerliches Emilia Galotti (1772) Trauerspiel Miss Sara Samson (1755) Lustspiel Minna von Barnhelm oder das Soldatenglück (1767) 2 Sturm und Drang Johann Wolfgang Goethe Prosa Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (1774) (1767-1785) Johann Gottfried Herder Von deutscher Art und Kunst (selections; 1773) Karl Philipp Moritz Anton Reiser (selections; 1785-90) Sophie von Laroche Geschichte des Fräuleins von Sternheim (1771/72) Johann Wolfgang Goethe Drama Götz von Berlichingen (1773) Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz Der Hofmeister oder die Vorteile der Privaterziehung (1774)
    [Show full text]
  • Horse Motifs in Folk Narrative of the Supernatural
    HORSE MOTIFS IN FOLK NARRATIVE OF THE SlPERNA TURAL by Victoria Harkavy A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of George Mason University in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Interdisciplinary Studies Committee: ___ ~C=:l!L~;;rtl....,19~~~'V'l rogram Director Dean, College of Humanities and Social Sciences Date: ~U_c-ly-=-a2..!-.:t ;LC>=-----...!/~'fF_ Spring Semester 2014 George Mason University Fairfax, VA Horse Motifs in Folk Narrative of the Supernatural A Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at George Mason University by Victoria Harkavy Bachelor of Arts University of Maryland-College Park 2006 Director: Margaret Yocom, Professor Interdisciplinary Studies Spring Semester 2014 George Mason University Fairfax, VA This work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noderivs 3.0 unported license. ii DEDICATION This is dedicated to my wonderful and supportive parents, Lorraine Messinger and Kenneth Harkavy. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee, Drs. Yocom, Fraser, and Rashkover, for putting in the time and effort to get this thesis finalized. Thanks also to my friends and colleagues who let me run ideas by them. Special thanks to Margaret Christoph for lending her copy editing expertise. Endless gratitude goes to my family taking care of me when I was focused on writing. Thanks also go to William, Folklore Horse, for all of the inspiration, and to Gumbie, Folklore Cat, for only sometimes sitting on the keyboard. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract .............................................................................................................................. vi Interdisciplinary Elements of this Study ............................................................................. 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • This Thesis Has Been Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for a Postgraduate Degree (E.G. Phd, Mphil, Dclinpsychol) at the University of Edinburgh
    This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: • This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. • A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. • This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. • The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. • When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Desire for Perpetuation: Fairy Writing and Re-creation of National Identity in the Narratives of Walter Scott, John Black, James Hogg and Andrew Lang Yuki Yoshino A Thesis Submitted to The University of Edinburgh for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English Literature 2013 Abstract This thesis argues that ‘fairy writing’ in the nineteenth-century Scottish literature serves as a peculiar site which accommodates various, often ambiguous and subversive, responses to the processes of constructing new national identities occurring in, and outwith, post-union Scotland. It contends that a pathetic sense of loss, emptiness and absence, together with strong preoccupations with the land, and a desire to perpetuate the nation which has become state-less, commonly underpin the wide variety of fairy writings by Walter Scott, John Black, James Hogg and Andrew Lang.
    [Show full text]
  • Wiccan Handbook
    DPC DRAGON PALM CIRCLE Wiccan Handbook WiccanHandbook DRAGON PALM CIRCLE Wiccan Handbook Dragon Palm Circle Sevierville, TN 4th Edition July 2002 Compiled by Dreamweaver 1st edition January 1998 2nd edition March 2000 3rd edition August 2001 Table of Contents Introduction i Day 17 Lunar Magick 17 C H A P T E R 1 Lunar Cycles 17 Wiccan Rede 1 Lunar Month 18 Blessing for a Child 2 Witches Rune 2 Witches Creed 2 Charge of the Goddess 3 C H A P T E R 2 Signs 5 Number, planets, and signs 5 Number system for letters 6 C H A P T E R 3 Wiccan Rede 7 Three Fold Law 7 Wiccan Code of Chivalry 7 C H A P T E R 4 Calling Quarters 10 C H A P T E R 5 Colors 12 C H A P T E R 6 Herbs, stones, and colors 13 Eleminals 16 C H A P T E R 7 Introduction This is a book of information that include laws, poems, and what different things mean. This book is not a book to learn Wicca, but a handbook that contains some things that can be useful in putting together spells and rituals. The Wiccan Handbook This handbook has been put together to give you information you may need in forming rituals and participating in rituals. This will not include everything, but enough to get you started. Note about edition: Items are added and taken away depending upon the usefulness of the items. This is a good book to have in Circles for the Rede and Rune.
    [Show full text]
  • Liminal Periods in the Udmurt Ritual Year
    AADO LINTROP Estonian Folklore Archives, Tartu Liminal Periods in the Udmurt Ritual Year In our cultural space we usually imagine our lifetime as a journey. Wayfarer or pilgrim is common metaphor for us as travellers on the road of life. We have several stages or parts on our way and many mental milestones and turns for marking and separating them. Actually we can say that linear time of human life is also structured by the cyclic rhythms of year and day. These contain for us periods of different significance. Holy periods There are interim periods during a person’s lifetime as well as during the calendar year, which are characterised by a state of indefiniteness or being without borders due to lack of everyday boundaries. The times are open to both good and evil and are close to the supernatural. Mental boundaries and landmarks are part of our system of orientation. Without them, space would be homogeneous; there would be no difference between familiar and unfamiliar, good and evil, sacred and profane places. It is the same with time. The expressions good times, hard times, crazy times, fast times, holiday time, everyday time, childhood, youth, manhood etc. contain obvious judgements and defining of limits. Transitions from one time, one period of life, one status to another are kind of crossroads or fork in the road in time. As we well know from the mythologies of different peoples, crossroads are liminal places in space where homeless or restless spirits gather and miscellaneous magic will be done (Puhvel 1989). If liminality causes ordinary orientation to be unable to function, then usual behaviour will also turn out to be ineffective or unsuitable.
    [Show full text]
  • Test Your Faerie Knowledge
    Spiderwick Tes t Your Activity Sheet Faerie Knowledge It wasn’t all that long ago that faeries were regarded as the substance of the imagination. Boggarts, Elves, Dragons, Ogres . mankind scoffed at the idea that such fantastical beings could exist at all, much less inhabit the world around us. Of course, that was before Simon & Schuster published Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You. Now, we all know that faeries truly do exist. They’re out there, occasionally helping an unwary human, but more often causing mischief and playing tricks. How much do you know about the Invisible World? Have you studied up on your faerie facts? Put your faerie knowledge to the test and see how well you do in the following activities.When you’re finished, total up your score and see how much you really know. SCORING: 1-10 POINTS: Keep studying. In the meantime, you should probably steer clear of faeries of any kind. 11-20 POINTS: Pretty good! You might be able to trick a pixie, but you couldn’t fool a phooka. 21-30 POINTS: Wow, You’re almost ready to tangle with a troll! 31-39 POINTS: Impressive! You seem to know a lot about the faerie world —perhaps you’re a changeling... 40 POINTS: Arthur Spiderwick? Is that you? MY SCORE: REPRODUCIBLE SHEET Page 1 of 4 ILLUSTRATIONS © 2003, 2004, 2005 BY TONY DITERLIZZI Spiderwick Tes t Your Activity Sheet Faerie Knowledge part 1 At any moment, you could stumble across a fantastical creature of the faerie world.
    [Show full text]