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Article Fairy Marriages in Tolkien’S Works GIOVANNI C
article Fairy marriages in Tolkien’s works GIOVANNI C. COSTABILE Both in its Celtic and non-Celtic declinations, the motif the daughter of the King of Faerie, who bestows on him a of the fairy mistress has an ancient tradition stretching magical source of wealth, and will visit him whenever he throughout different areas, ages, genres, media and cul- wants, so long as he never tells anybody about her.5 Going tures. Tolkien was always fascinated by the motif, and used further back, the nymph Calypso, who keeps Odysseus on it throughout his works, conceiving the romances of Beren her island Ogygia on an attempt to make him her immortal and Lúthien, and Aragorn and Arwen. In this article I wish husband,6 can be taken as a further (and older) version of to point out some minor expressions of the same motif in the same motif. Tolkien’s major works, as well as to reflect on some over- But more pertinent is the idea of someone’s ancestor being looked aspects in the stories of those couples, in the light of considered as having married a fairy. Here we can turn to the often neglected influence of Celtic and romance cultures the legend of Sir Gawain, as Jessie Weston and John R. Hul- on Tolkien. The reader should also be aware that I am going bert interpret Gawain’s story in Sir Gawain and the Green to reference much outdated scholarship, that being my pre- Knight as a late, Christianised version of what once was a cise intent, though, at least since this sort of background fairy-mistress tale in which the hero had to prove his worth may conveniently help us in better understanding Tolkien’s through the undertaking of the Beheading Test in order to reading of both his theoretical and actual sources. -
The Pen and the Pennon: Political and Social Comment
THE PEN AND THE PENNON: POLITICAL AND SOCIAL COMMENT INSCRIBED WITHIN CHIVALRIC ROMANCE A DISSERTATION IN English and History Presented to the Faculty of the University of Missouri-Kansas City in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY by LARRY MICHAEL MCCLOUD B.A., Iowa State University, 1997 MLA, Baker University, 1999 Kansas City, Missouri 2016 © 2016 LARRY MICHAEL MCCLOUD ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THE PEN AND THE PENNON: POLITICAL AND SOCIAL COMMENT INSCRIBED WITHIN CHIVALRIC ROMANCE Larry Michael McCloud, Candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2016 ABSTRACT Study of the Medieval English romance has burgeoned in recent years, with a focus on the world outside of the texts being central to the resurgence. I offer in this dissertation a reading of four of these works (Athelston, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Cleges, and Sir Gowther) that considers each of them in the environment in which they are presented. Utilizing the contexts of manuscript placement, contemporary social and legal issues, and sociological changes affecting the audience, this work explores an analytical reading of each work that establishes possible meanings for each romance and possible motivations for their unnamed authors. Each work is ascribed its own chapter, focusing on a particular issue of English knighthood being interrogated. Chapter three suggests that Sir Gawain and the Green Knight repurposes the character of Gawain to observe the importance of oath taking and the bonds formed by knights from the practice of such. Chapter four focuses on the message of Athelston and argues that the work repositions the power of the crown beneath iii that of a regularized judicial system in which knights function as jurists. -
Arch : Northwestern University Institutional Repository
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY Myth and the Modern Problem: Mythic Thinking in Twentieth-Century Britain A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Field of History By Matthew Kane Sterenberg EVANSTON, ILLINOIS December 2007 2 © Copyright by Matthew Kane Sterenberg 2007 All Rights Reserved 3 ABSTRACT Myth and the Modern Problem: Mythic Thinking in Twentieth-Century Britain Matthew Sterenberg This dissertation, “Myth and the Modern Problem: Mythic Thinking in Twentieth- Century Britain,” argues that a widespread phenomenon best described as “mythic thinking” emerged in the early twentieth century as way for a variety of thinkers and key cultural groups to frame and articulate their anxieties about, and their responses to, modernity. As such, can be understood in part as a response to what W.H. Auden described as “the modern problem”: a vacuum of meaning caused by the absence of inherited presuppositions and metanarratives that imposed coherence on the flow of experience. At the same time, the dissertation contends that— paradoxically—mythic thinkers’ response to, and critique of, modernity was itself a modern project insofar as it took place within, and depended upon, fundamental institutions, features, and tenets of modernity. Mythic thinking was defined by the belief that myths—timeless rather than time-bound explanatory narratives dealing with ultimate questions—were indispensable frameworks for interpreting experience, and essential tools for coping with and criticizing modernity. Throughout the period 1900 to 1980, it took the form of works of literature, art, philosophy, and theology designed to show that ancient myths had revelatory power for modern life, and that modernity sometimes required creation of new mythic narratives. -
Frustrated Redemption: Patterns of Decay and Salvation in Medieval Modernist Literature
City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Dissertations and Theses City College of New York 2013 Frustrated Redemption: Patterns of Decay and Salvation in Medieval Modernist Literature Shayla Frandsen CUNY City College of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/519 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] Frustrated Redemption: Patterns of Decay and Salvation in Medieval and Modernist Literature Shayla Frandsen Thesis Advisor: Paul Oppenheimer Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts of the City College of the City University of New York Table of Contents Preface 1 The Legend of the Fisher King and the Search for the 5 Modern Grail in The Waste Land, Paris, and Parallax “My burden threatens to crush me”: The Transformative Power 57 of the Hero’s Quest in Parzival and Ezra Pound’s Hugh Selwyn Mauberley Hemingway, the Once and Future King, 101 and Salvation’s Second Coming Bibliography 133 Frandsen 1 Preface “The riddle of the Grail is still awaiting its solution,” Alexander Krappe writes, the “riddle” referring to attempts to discover the origin of this forever enigmatic object, whether Christian or Folkloric,1 yet “one thing is reasonably certain: the theme of the Frustrated Redemption” (18).2 Krappe explains that the common element of the frustrated redemption theme is “two protagonists: a youth in quest of adventures and a supernatural being . -
The Latin Reception of the De Gestis Britonum
Chapter 7 The Latin Reception of the De gestis Britonum Siân Echard Gerald of Wales famously skewered the veracity of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s his- tory in his story of Meilyr, an illiterate man who could spot falsehood, thanks to devils dancing on the offending tongues or pages. Meilyr’s tormentors could be driven away by the Gospel of John, but when a copy of the De gestis Britonum was placed on his lap, the devils returned in ever greater numbers. Gerald’s anecdote, written in his Itinerary Through Wales in the 1190s, is a witness to the incredible popularity of the DGB less than 50 years after Geoffrey’s death, and that popularity would only grow, as the story was taken up in the vernacular translations discussed in Chapter Eight. Gerald’s skepticism is of a piece with the reactions from other Latin authors dealt with in Chapter Six, but as the present chapter will show, the rise of Arthurian literature as a vernacular phe- nomenon, and the dismissal of Geoffrey’s work (and Arthur’s historicity) by some Anglo-Latin historians, give a potentially misleading impression about the importance that the DGB continued to have in the Latin tradition, well into the early modern period. First, while the centrality of the Arthuriad to the DGB cannot be overstated, Geoffrey is also responsible for promulgating several other highly popular and influential myths, of interest to both Latinate and vernacular readers in the Middle Ages and beyond; that is, Geoffrey’s impor- tance reaches beyond the Arthurian tradition. And second, while some Latin writers may have reacted negatively to Geoffrey’s work, others set about com- menting on it, supplementing it, and even writing their own Latin Arthurian narratives. -
Female Arthurian Scholars: an Initial Collection of Tributes
JIAS 2019; 7(1): 3–41 Samantha J. Rayner* Female Arthurian Scholars: An Initial Collection of Tributes https://doi.org/10.1515/jias-2019-0002 When we sent out for help with a piece on female Arthurian scholars, we had no idea what a rich set of responses we would receive. What follows is an eclectic collection of over twenty short pieces on international female Arthurian schol- ars, past and present: some are very personal reminiscences, some more formal appreciations, but together they constitute the start of a wonderful bank of infor- mation recording the impact female scholars have made on our field. This is not a comprehensive, or selective, survey: we hope this initial chapter will be the inspi- ration for more submissions for future issues of JIAS, so we can continue to collect these histories. Please get in touch if you would like to offer an entry; meanwhile, we hope you enjoy this compendium, and send thanks to all our valiant contribu- tors who responded with such speed and enthusiasm to our SOS! Samantha Rayner ELIZABETH ARCHIBALD Elizabeth F. Archibald’s continuing contribution to the field of Arthurian studies is as rich as it is, in part, because it belongs to a larger contribution she is making to medieval studies generally. Also trained as a classicist, she is one of our most perspicacious readers of medieval Latin texts and traditions. Besides her mono- graph Apollonius of Tyre: Medieval and Renaissance Themes and Variations (Cam- bridge: D. S. Brewer, 1991), she has published on ancient romance, the Ruodlieb, and fifteenth-century macaronic poetry. -
THE INTERACTION BETWEEN LANDSCAPE and MYTH in the NOVELS of JOHN COWPER POWYS by GWYNETH F. MILES MA Bryn Mawr College, 196?
c . \ THE INTERACTION BETWEEN LANDSCAPE AND MYTH IN THE NOVELS OF JOHN COWPER POWYS by GWYNETH F. MILES M.A. Bryn Mawr College, 196? A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of English We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA September, 1973 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department The University of British Columbia Vancouver 8, Canada i Abstract Powys' novels are deeply rooted in a sense of place; much of their conflict develops through the effect of a particular locality upon the characters who live there or come there. This thesis demonstrates how Powys' sense of place is com• pounded of both a feeling for the physical landscape, and an awareness of the historical and mythical traditions which form its human past. Powys finds correspondences between the scenery and legends of a locality and the psychological states of his personae, and thus uses landscape and myth for symbolic purposes. The interaction of myth and landscape largely creates the characteristic atmosphere of the five novels studied here. -
Celtic Motifs in the Provençal Arthurian Romance, Jaufre: the Grail Legend Before Perceval
72-4627 ROOT, Martha James, 1939- CELTIC MOTIFS IN THE PROVENCAL ARTHURIAN ROMANCE, JAUFRE: THE GRAIL LEGEND BEFORE PERCEVAL. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1971 Language and Literature, modern University Microfilms, A XERQ\ Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan CELTIC MOTIFS IN THE PROVENCAL ARTHURIAN ROMANCE, JAUFRE; THE GRAIL LEGEND BEFORE PERCEVAL DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Martha James Root, A.B., M.A. The Ohio State University 1971 Approved hy Department of Romance Languages' PLEASE NOTE: Some Pages have in d is tin c t print. Filmed as received. UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS ACI®OWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my appreciation to my adviser, Mrs. Eleanor Bulatkin, to my parents, grandmother, and husband and to Anne Tilton and Janet Zimmerman. ii VITA November 22, 1 9 3 9 ........... Born - East Chicago, Indiana 1 9 6 1 ....................... A.B., Miami University, Oxford, Ohio I96 I-I965 ................... Teaching Assistant, Department of Romance Languages, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 196^ . M.A., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1965-1966 ................... Lecturer, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: French Literature Minor Fields: Spanish Literature Provencal Literature iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii VITA iii INTRODUCTION X Manuscript Editions Metric Form, Dialect, Localization Date of Composition Purpose of Dissertation Celtic Motifs The Qp.es ting Hero J aufre Chapter I. ARTHUR'S ADVENTURES 28 The Red Beast The Giant Bird II. THE KNIGHT JAUFRE 63 III. THE WOUND, THE WASTING AND THE LAMENT 68 IV. -
The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend Edited by Elizabeth Archibald and Ad Putter Frontmatter More Information
Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-67788-2 - The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend Edited by Elizabeth Archibald and Ad Putter Frontmatter More information The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend For more than a thousand years, the adventures of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table have been retold across Europe. They have inspired some of the most important works of European literature, particularly in the medieval period: the romances of Chrétien de Troyes, Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Malory’s Morte Darthur. In the nineteenth century, interest in the Arthurian legend revived with Tennyson, Wagner and Twain. The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend outlines the evolution of the legend from the earliest documentary sources to the musical Spamalot, and analyses how some of the major motifs of the legend have been passed down in both medieval and modern texts. With a map of Arthur’s Britain, a chronology of key texts and a guide to further reading, this volume will contribute to the continuing fascination with King Arthur and his many legends. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-67788-2 - The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend Edited by Elizabeth Archibald and Ad Putter Frontmatter More information by Edward Burne-Jones. By permission of the Museo De Arte De Ponce, Puerto Rico. Arte De Ponce, By permission of the Museo De by Edward Burne-Jones. Avalon Arthur in The Sleep of King Frontispiece -
Eliot and Weston: the Mythical Method of the Waste Land Jonathan Ullyot CHAPTER DRAFT
Dear P&P workshop – Many thanks in advance for reading this (early) chapter draft of a larger project about modernist Grail narratives, new medievalism, and failure aesthetics. The working structure of the book project is 1) James’s The Golden Bowl 2) Eliot’s The Waste Land 3) Kafka’s Das Schloss 4) Céline’s Voyage au bout de la nuit 5) Beckett’s Molloy. I look forward to your comments. Eliot and Weston: The Mythical Method of The Waste Land Jonathan Ullyot CHAPTER DRAFT “As a matter of fact I believe that the ‘Waste Land’ is really the very heart of our problem; a rightful appreciation of its position and significance will place us in possession of the clue which will lead us safely through the most bewildering mazes of the fully developed tale.” (Jessie Weston, From Ritual to Romance, 60) In 1922, Horace Liveright, T. S. Eliot’s American publisher, suggested that Eliot write explanatory notes to his new poem, The Waste Land, in order to increase the page count for the limited edition. Once Eliot wrote the notes, however, he considered them an integral part of his poem.1 Eliot prefaced the notes with a generous acknowledgement to Jessie Weston’s study of the Grail legend, From Ritual to Romance (1920). The passage has been the source of much debate among readers and scholars. Not only the title, but the plan and a good deal of the incidental symbolism of the poem were suggested by Miss Jessie L. Weston’s book on the Grail legend: From Ritual to Romance (Cambridge). -
The Ecological Imagination of John Cowper Powys: Writing, 'Nature', and the Non-Human
The Ecological Imagination of John Cowper Powys: Writing, 'Nature', and the Non-human Michael Stephen Wood Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of English September 2017 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his/her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. © 2017 The University of Leeds and Michael Stephen Wood The right of to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 Acknowledgements Thanks are due, first and foremost, to Dr. Fiona Becket for her unswerving belief and encouragement. This thesis would not have been possible without the support of Stuart Wood, Susan Bayliss, Elaine Wood, Paul Shevlin, and Jessica Foley, all of whom have my love and gratitude. Further thanks are due to Dr. Emma Trott, Dr. Frances Hemsley, Dr. Ragini Mohite, Dr. Hannah Copley, and Dr. Georgina Binnie for their friendship and support, and to Kathy and David Foley for their patience in the final weeks of this project. Thanks to Adrienne Sharpe of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library for facilitating access to Powys’s correspondence with Dorothy Richardson. I am indebted to everyone in the Leeds School of English who has ever shared a conversation with me about my work, and to those, too numerous to mention, whose teaching has helped to shape my work and thinking along the way. -
Excalibur (Film)
Excalibur (film) Excalibur is a 1981 American epic fantasy film directed, produced, and co-written Excalibur by John Boorman that retells the legend ofKing Arthur and the knights of the Round Table, based on the 15th-century Arthurian romance Le Morte d'Arthur by Thomas Malory. It stars Nigel Terry as Arthur, Nicol Williamson as Merlin, Nicholas Clay as Lancelot, Cherie Lunghi as Guenevere, Helen Mirren as Morgana, Liam Neeson as Gawain, Gabriel Byrne as Uther Pendragon, Corin Redgrave as Cornwall, and Patrick Stewart as Leondegrance. The film is named after the legendary sword of King Arthur that features prominently in Arthurian literature. The film's soundtrack features the music of Richard Wagner and Carl Orff, along with an original score by Trevor Jones. Excalibur was shot entirely on location in Ireland, employing Irish actors and crew. It has been acknowledged for its importance to the Irish filmmaking industry and for helping launch the film and acting careers of a number of British and Irish actors, including Liam Neeson, Patrick Stewart, Gabriel Byrne and Ciarán Hinds.[4] Film critics Roger Ebert and Vincent Canby criticized the film's plot and characters,[6][7] although they and other reviewers[8] praised its visual style. Excalibur opened at number one in the United States, eventually grossing $34,967,437 on a budget of around US$11 million to rank 18th in that year's Theatrical release poster receipts.[5] by Bob Peak Directed by John Boorman Produced by John Boorman Contents Screenplay by John Boorman Plot Rospo Cast Pallenberg