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Transformation and Dissimulation in the Early Modern Period City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 2-2016 Interfictional Identities: rT ansformation and Dissimulation in the Early Modern Period Yael Nezer Lavender-Smith Graduate Center, City University 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/gc_etds/687 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] INTERFICTIONAL IDENTITIES: TRANSFORMATION AND DISSIMULATION IN THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD by YAEL NEZER LAVENDER-SMITH A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Comparative Literature in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2016 ii © 2016 YAEL NEZER LAVENDER-SMITH All Rights Reserved iii INTERFICTIONAL IDENTITIES: TRANSFORMATION AND DISSIMULATION IN THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD by YAEL NEZER LAVENDER-SMITH This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Comparative Literature to satisfy the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Monica Calabritto ___________________________________ ____________________ ___________________________________ Date Chair of Examining Committee Giancarlo Lombardi ____________________________________ ____________________ ___________________________________ Date Executive Officer André Aciman _____________________________________ Clare Carroll _____________________________________ Richard C. McCoy _____________________________________ Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iv Abstract Interfictional Identities: Transformation and Dissimulation in the Early Modern Period by Yael Nezer Lavender-Smith Advisor: Monica Calabritto Interfictional Identities develops the concept of interfictional transformations. In these transformations, characters in early modern texts adopt new identities rooted in previous literature. Specifically, Interfictional Identities explores how four early modern moments of interfictional transformation—of Nick Bottom in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, of Pyrocles in Sidney’s New Arcadia, of Uriel da Costa in A Specimen of Human Life, and of Don Quixote in Cervantes’ novel—produce both literary and literal hybridity. One wonders why, in these works, writers and playwrights such as Shakespeare, Sidney, Da Costa, and Cervantes favor interfictional transformations over mere allusions to classical literature, or, for that matter, disguises that do not allude to previous literature. A time of religious and ideological crisis, the early modern period called for dissimulation and self-fashioning in order to conceal one’s true beliefs and identity. Interfictional Identities explores how interfictional transformations encourage a confrontation with “the other within.” Though scholars have studied early modern transformations and hybridity as representations of national and cultural encounters with “the other,” little has been written on intertextual transformations as images of dissimulation and as representations of the necessity to negotiate identity during the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. The nonhuman-human hybrid, the cross-dresser, the converso, and the madman become distinctive literary images of the period, v representing the fear of confronting the unfamiliar-familiar other. Taken together, these transformation narratives reflect the social anxiety of dissimulation, through which early modern readers and audiences encounter their own radically hybrid identities. vi Acknowledgments My deepest intellectual debt is to my advisory committee, who supported me throughout the writing process. From the early stages of my doctoral studies the committee has taught, challenged, and encouraged me. I am grateful for their support. Throughout this project my advisor, Prof. Monica Calabritto, has generously provided me with attentive reading and support. I would like to thank her for her challenging and engaging insights, but also for her kindness and friendship. Prof. André Aciman mentored me throughout my graduate studies. Prof. Aciman’s guidance has inspired me every step of the way. Prof. Clare Carroll, whose advice and encouragement I truly appreciate, supported this project from its early stages. I owe a great deal of gratitude to Prof. Richard McCoy, whose careful and considerable feedback enhanced this project greatly. I would also like to thank Prof. Vered Lev Kenaan, who was my mentor and advisor during my graduate studies at the University of Haifa, and whose voice and words have provided guidance and inspiration. I would like to thank Profs. Ronnie Ancona, Martin Elsky, Giancarlo Lombardi, James Saslow, and Jacob Stern, with whom I shared conversations about earlier versions of my work and whose advice and support I truly appreciate. The Graduate Center at the City University of New York awarded me an incredibly helpful Dissertation-Year Fellowship for 2014-2015 that allowed me to concentrate solely on the completion of the dissertation. Several friends and colleagues read portions of this dissertation and graciously provided encouragement and feedback: Anick Boyd, Abraham Rubin, and Anna Finkelstern. I am grateful for their advice and friendship. vii My mother and father, Miriam and Hertzel Nezer did everything to make this period of writing possible (thanks for the shoes). They are my foundation. The strong bond and deep love I share with my sister Gail Haimson and my brother Omri Nezer provide a grounding and sense of belonging, not to mention laughs. I would also like to thank my in-laws Barry Smith, Gail Lavender, and Mark Whitehead for their unconditional love, encouragement, and support. This work reflects the enchanting intellectual conversations I have shared with my husband, Jordan Lavender-Smith, while we were exploring the streets of New York City. Jordan informed and inspired my views of transformation and hybridity in many ways. He read and reread the manuscript and provided illuminating suggestions. He has been my intellectual and emotional support and my home. I dedicate this dissertation to our daughter, Ariel, who was born in New York four years ago in the midst of my graduate studies. Her sensibility, beauty, curiosity, and imagination have made her a constant source of wonder, learning, and transformations. viii Table of Contents Introduction: Interfictional Transformations 1 Chapter 1: Uncanny Metamorphoses: Bottom’s Hybridity in A Midsummer Night’s Dream 25 1. A Time of Hybridity 27 2. Theories of the Uncanny 29 3. “Thou art translated!”: The Uncanny Effect of the Metamorphosis 33 4. Bottom’s Counterparts: Pyrocles and Don Quixote 37 5. Counter-Transformation, the Failure of Language, and the Play’s Theory of Metamorphosis 46 6. Metamorphosis’ Uncanny Reflexivity 53 Chapter 2: “Transform’d in show, but more transform’d in mind”: Pyrocles’ Interfictional Transformation and Dissimulation in the New Arcadia 60 1. Fixed and Unfixed Texts: The Arcadias’ Publication History 60 2. “thou woman, or boy, or both”: Transformation and Interpretation 64 3. Hercules’ Impresa and Pyrocles’ Interfictional Transformation 73 4. Absent Achilles 95 5. “under that mask”: Dissimulation in the Early Modern Period and in Basilius’ Court 111 6. Conclusion: Reading Pyrocles 128 Chapter 3: A Conversion Narrative in Disguise: Uriel da Costa’s Religious Transformation 132 ix 1. The Alboraique 132 2. Habetis vitae meae historiam veram: Da Costa’s Exemplar, A True History? 134 3. The Fictional Elements of Autobiography 144 4. A Conversion Narrative in Disguise 147 5. The Others Within 165 6. Nomen meum: Da Costa’s Interfictionality 170 7. Quixotic Da Costa 175 8. Conclusion 186 Chapter 4: Conclusion 188 Bibliography 201 1. Primary Sources 201 2. Secondary Sources 204 1 Introduction: Interfictional Transformations Outside the walls of Athens, a group of six men meet to rehearse a play for the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. Their rehearsal takes place near Titania’s private chambers. Nick Bottom, the weaver, plays the role of Pyramus. When he steps onto the stage, he is spotted by Puck, who exclaims, “A stranger Pyramus than e'er played here!” (III.1.88). A little later offstage, Puck transforms Bottom’s head into that of an ass. Not far from there, in Arcadia, Pyrocles explains to his cousin Musidorus that he is determined to “bear the countenance of an Amazon” (142) so he can get close to Philoclea and win her love. “Somewhere in La Mancha,” Alonso Quixano decides “to become a knight errant and travel the world” (19, 20).1 He changes his name to Don Quixote de La Mancha, dons his armor, and crosses the boundaries of class, reason, and sanity. In Oporto, Portugal, Uriel da Costa undergoes a religious transformation into Judaism, based on his individual reading of the Bible. These four accounts describe moments of transformation in four different early modern literary works: Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1594-6), Sidney’s New Arcadia (1593), Cervantes’ Don Quixote (1605 and 1615), and Uriel da Costa’s Exemplar Humanae Vitae (1640).2 1 My citations from A Midsummer Night’s Dream are from the Norton edition (Greenblatt et al.); citations from the New Arcadia are from Evans’ edition; citations from Don Quixote are from Grossman’s edition. 2 Though transformation and metamorphosis are used interchangeably, I emphasize
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