The Modern Language Review articles from April 2002

The Modern Language Review archives from April 2002

Medieval misogyny and Gawain's outburst against women in 'Sir Gawain and the green Knight'.
April 1, 2002... His clannes and his cortaysye croked were neuer. (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, l. 653) An old religious uncle of mine taught me to speak, who was in his youth an inland man; one that knew courtship too well, for...

A reconsideration of Oa the earth goddess in William Golding's 'The Inheritors'.
April 1, 2002... There has been no persuasive discussion of the nature and function of Oa the earth goddess in The Inheritors. Underplaying the role of Oa in this novel leads to neglect of the key concept elaborated by the author. Although this work is one of...

Rousseau and the invention of the male love-letter.(Jean-Jacques Rousseau)
April 1, 2002... There is no doubt that libertinage found in Jean-Jacques Rousseau its most biased observer, most fascinated critic and most ambivalent reader. It is this ambivalence that emerges from his description of Parisian life, in Julie ou La Nouvelle...

The Proustian harem.(Marcel Proust)
April 1, 2002... En me disant adieu il me serra la main a me la broyer [...] et en continuant pendant quelques instants a me la malaxer [...]. Chez certains aveugles le toucher supplee dans une certaine mesure a la vue. Je ne sais trop de quel sens il prenait la...

A quotation from the 'Culex' in Boccaccio's 'De Casibus'.(Giovanni Boccaccio)
April 1, 2002... For an author dealing programmatically with the downfalls of famous men, the matter (if not necessarily the texts) of the two Homeric epics provided ample scope for edifying example. In the thirteenth chapter of the first book of the De Casibus...

Body-swapping and genre-crossing: Laura Esquivel's 'La ley del amor'.
April 1, 2002... In this article I consider the second of Laura Esquivel's novels, La ley del amor, published some six years after Como agua para chocolate (1989), a work that attracted a great deal of critical attention in both Mexico and abroad. (1) La ley del...

Germans, guilt, and the second threshold of Heinrich Boll: a study of three non-fictional works.
April 1, 2002... Theodor Adorno and Jean Amery both praised Heinrich Boll (1917-1985) as a moral figure. Amery maintained that without him 'die Bundesrepublik Deutschland ein schwacher entwickeltes moralisches Bewusstsein hatte', that Boll knew the continuities...

Staging Jorg Haider: protest and resignation in Elfriede Jelinek's 'Das Lebewohl' and other recent texts for the theater.
April 1, 2002... In memory of Francesca Gibson and Christine Flude A reader comparing the introduction to Elfriede Jelinek's first publication, the novel wir sind lockvogel baby! of 1970, with some of the authorial inferences and statements found in and about...

Between Albanian identity and imperial politics: Ismail Kadare's 'The Palace of Dreams'.
April 1, 2002... Ismail Kadare is one of the best known of contemporary Balkan novelists and probably the only Albanian writer known widely outside his country. Among Albanian dissidents Kadare has been a controversial figure, condemned by some on account of his...

The Medieval Mystical Tradition: England, Ireland, and Wales. Exeter Symposium VI.
April 1, 2002... The Medieval Mystical Tradition: England, Ireland, and Wales. Exeter Symposium VI. (Papers read at Charley Manor, July 1999). Ed. by MARION GLASSCOE. Cambridge: Brewer. 1999. vii + 268 pp. 40 [pounds sterling]; $75 This collection of thirteen...

Time-Bound Words: Semantic and Social Economics from Chaucer's England to Shakespeare's.
April 1, 2002... Time-Bound Words: Semantic and Social Economies from Chaucer's England to Shakespeare's. By PEGGY A. KNAPP. Basingstoke: Macmillan; New York: St Marin's Press. 2000. vii + 224. 42.50 [pounds sterling]. Three traditions can be identified among...

Reading Revolutions: The Politics of Reading in Early Modern England.
April 1, 2002... Reading Revolutions: The Politics of Reading in Early Modern England. BY KEVIN SHARPE. New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press. 2000. xiv + 358 pp. 25 [pounds sterling]. Kevin Sharpe has written a rich and well-researched study of...

From Playhouse to Printing House: Drama and Authorship in Early Modern England.
April 1, 2002... From Playhouse to Printing House: Drama and Authorship in Early Modern England. By DOUGLAS A. BROOKS. (Cambridge Studies in Renaissance Literature and Culture) Cambridge, New York, and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. 2000. xviii + 296 pp....

Temperate Conquests: Spenser and the Spanish New World.
April 1, 2002... Temperate Conquests: Spenser and the Spanish New World. By DAVID READ. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press. 2000. 164 pp. $34.95. In this intriguing study of Book II of The Faerie Queene, David Read argues a thesis that can often seem...

Shakespeare, Catholicism, and Romance.
April 1, 2002... Shakespeare, Catholicism, and Romance. By VELMA BOURGEOIS RICHMOND. New York and London: Continuum. 2000. 242 pp. $34.50. It is now fashionably taken as given that, even in an obviously massively Protestant England, Shakespeare was a Catholic....

Shakespeare and Masculinity.
April 1, 2002... Shakespeare and Masculinity. By BRUCE R. SMITH. (Oxford Shakespeare Topics) Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2000. x + 182 pp. 25 [pounds sterling] (paperback 12.99 [pounds sterling]). Bruce Smith's initial pitch is the remoteness of the...

Shakespeare's 'Troilus and Cressida' and the Inns of Court Revels.
April 1, 2002... Shakespeare's 'Troilus and Cressida' and the Inns of Court Revels. By W. R. ELTON. Aldershot, Brookfield, VT, and Singapore: Ashgate. 2000. xi + 201 pp. 42.50 [pounds sterling]. The main aim of this book is to provide internal textual evidence...

But the Irish Sea Betwixt Us: Ireland, Colonialism, and Renaissance Literature.
April 1, 2002... But the Irish Sea Betwixt Us: Ireland, Colonialism, and Renaissance Literature. By ANDREW MURPHY. (English Literature, History, & Culture) Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. 1999. xii + 227 pp. $34. The recent proliferation of work on...

Aspects of Renaissance and Baroque Symbol Theory, 1500-1700.
April 1, 2002... Aspects of Renaissance and Baroque Symbol Theory, 1500-1700. Ed by PETER M. DALY and JOHN MANNING. (AMS Studies in the Emblem, 14). New York: AMS Press. 2000. xxii + 296 pp. $78. If modern theories of cultural transmission and reception have...

Revising Women: Eighteenth Century 'Women's Fiction' and Social Engagement.
April 1, 2002... Revising Women: Eighteenth-Century 'Women's Fiction' and Social Engagement. Ed. by PAULA R. BACKSCHEIDER. Baltimore, MD, and London: Johns Hopkins University Press. 2000. xv + 273 pp. 31 [pounds sterling]. This collection contains five long...

Clarissa and Her Readers: New Essays for the 'Clarissa' Project.
April 1, 2002... Clarissa and Her Readers: New Essays for the 'Clarissa' Project. Ed. and intro. by CAROL HOULIHAN FLYNN and EDWARD COPELAND. (The Clarissa Project, 9) New York: AMS Press. 1999. x + 319 pp. $84.50. Anger, Guilt, and the Psychology of the Self...

Anger, Guilt, and the Psychology of the Self in 'Clarissa'.
April 1, 2002... Clarissa and Her Readers: New Essays for the 'Clarissa' Project. Ed. and intro. by CAROL HOULIHAN FLYNN and EDWARD COPELAND. (The Clarissa Project, 9) New York: AMS Press. 1999. x + 319 pp. $84.50. Anger, Guilt, and the Psychology of the Self...

The Age of Virtue: British Culture from the Restoration to Romanticism.
April 1, 2002... The Age of Virtue: British Culture from the Restoration to Romanticism. By DAVID MORSE. Basingstoke: Macmillan; New York: St Martin's Press. 2000. viii + 330 pp. 42.50 [pounds sterling]. The virtue of David Morse's book is the range, the...

The Poetics of Disappointment: Wordsworth to Ashbery.
April 1, 2002... The Poetics of Disappointment: Wordsworth to Ashbery. By LAURA QUINNEY. Charlottesville and London: University Press of Virginia. 1999. xvii + 200 pp. $30. It is difficult to feel anything other than ultimate disappointment at Laura Quinney's...

Lord Byron at Harrow School: Speaking Out, Talking Back, Acting Up, Bowing Out.
April 1, 2002... Lord Byron at Harrow School: Speaking Out, Talking Back, Acting Up, Bowing Out. By PAUL ELLEDGE. Baltimore, MD, and London: Johns Hopkins University Press. 2000. xiii + 221 pp. 31 [pounds sterling]. There is a major revival of interest in...

George Eliot and Intoxication: Dangerous Drugs for the Condition of England.
April 1, 2002... George Eliot and Intoxication: Dangerous Drugs for the Condition of England. By KATHLEEN McCORMACK. Basingstoke: Macmillan; New York: St Martin's Press. 2000. xi + 234 pp. 42.50 [pounds sterling]. This book demonstrates the ubiquity of...

Henry James and Modern Moral Life.
April 1, 2002... Henry James and Modern Moral Life. By ROBERT B. PIPPIN. Cambridge, New York, and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. 2000. xi + 193 pp. 32.50 [pounds sterling]; $49.95. Questioning the Master: Gender and Sexuality in Henry James's Writings....

Questioning the Master: Gender and Sexuality in Henry James's Writings.
April 1, 2002... Henry James and Modern Moral Life. By ROBERT B. PIPPIN. Cambridge, New York, and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. 2000. xi + 193 pp. 32.50 [pounds sterling]; $49.95. Questioning the Master: Gender and Sexuality in Henry James's Writings....

Henry James.
April 1, 2002... Henry James and Modern Moral Life. By ROBERT B. PIPPIN. Cambridge, New York, and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. 2000. xi + 193 pp. 32.50 [pounds sterling]; $49.95. Questioning the Master: Gender and Sexuality in Henry James's Writings....

Dear Munificent Friends: Henry James's Letters to Four Women.
April 1, 2002... Dear Munificent Friends: Henry James's Letters to Four Women. Ed. by SUSAN E. GUNTER. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 2000. xxiv + 288 pp. $39.50. While James scholars await the massive Complete Letters of Henry James, announced in...

Adapting to the Stage: Theater and the Work of Henry James.
April 1, 2002... Adapting to the Stage: Theatre and the Work of Henry James. By CHRIS GREENWOOD. (Studies in European Cultural Transition, 4) Aldershot, Burlington, VT, Singapore, and Sydney: Ashgate. 2000. ix + 195 pp. 45 [pounds sterling]. Anyone who has...

A Queer Civalry: The Homoerotic Asceticism of Gerard Manley Hopkins.
April 1, 2002... A Queer Chivalry: The Homoerotic Asceticism of Gerard Manley Hopkins. By JULIA F. SAVILLE. (Victorian Literature and Culture Series) Charlottesville and London: University Press of Virginia. 2000. xi + 240 pp. $37.50. As Julia Saville reminds...

Interviews Through Time and Selected Prose.
April 1, 2002... Interviews Through Time and Selected Prose. By ROY FISHER. Kentisbeare: Shearsman. 2000. 148 pp. 9.95 [pounds sterling]. The Thing About Roy Fisher: Critical Studies. Ed. by JOHN KERRIGAN and PETER ROBINSON. (Liverpool English Texts and...

The Thing About Roy Fisher: Critical Studies.
April 1, 2002... Interviews Through Time and Selected Prose. By ROY FISHER. Kentisbeare: Shearsman. 2000. 148 pp. 9.95 [pounds sterling]. The Thing About Roy Fisher: Critical Studies. Ed. by JOHN KERRIGAN and PETER ROBINSON. (Liverpool English Texts and...

News for the Ear: An Homage to Roy Fisher.
April 1, 2002... Interviews Through Time and Selected Prose. By ROY FISHER. Kentisbeare: Shearsman. 2000. 148 pp. 9.95 [pounds sterling]. The Thing About Roy Fisher: Critical Studies. Ed. by JOHN KERRIGAN and PETER ROBINSON. (Liverpool English Texts and...

Narcissus 'Sous Rature': Male Subjectivity in Contemproary American Poetry.
April 1, 2002... Narcissus 'Sous Rature': Male Subjectivity in Contemporary American Poetry. By JODY NORTON. Cranbury, NJ: Bucknell University Press; London: Associated University Presses. 2000. 256 pp. 35 [pounds sterling]. In the preface to this worthwhile...

Translating the Unspeakable: Poetry and the Innovative Necessity.
April 1, 2002... Translating the Unspeakable: Poetry and the Innovative Necessity. By KATHLEEN FRASER. (Modern and Contemporary Poetics) Tuscaloosa and London: University of Alabama Press. 2000. xi + 213 pp. $44.95 (paperback $19.95). This collection of essays...

Singing with the Heart of a Bear: Fusions of Native American Poetry, 1890-1999.
April 1, 2002... Singing with the Heart of a Bear: Fusions of Native and American Poetry, 1890-1999. By KENNETH LINCOLN. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press. 2000. xxvi + 435 pp. $50; 30 [pounds sterling] (paperback $19.95; 12.50...

Edith Wharton's Social Register.
April 1, 2002... Edith Wharton's Social Register. By CLAIRE PRESTON. Basingstoke: Macmillan; New York: St Martin's Press. 2000. xv + 225 pp. 42.50 [pounds sterling]. A Forward Glance: New Essays on Edith Wharton. Ed. by CLARE COLQUITT, SUSAN GOODMAN, and...

A Forward Glance: New Essays on Edith Wharton.
April 1, 2002... Edith Wharton's Social Register. By CLAIRE PRESTON. Basingstoke: Macmillan; New York: St Martin's Press. 2000. xv + 225 pp. 42.50 [pounds sterling]. A Forward Glance: New Essays on Edith Wharton. Ed. by CLARE COLQUITT, SUSAN GOODMAN, and...

Gertrude Stein: Modernism, and the Problem of 'Genius'.
April 1, 2002... Gertrude Stein: Modernism, and the Problem of 'Genius'. By BARBARA WILL. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 2000. xi + 180 pp. 40 [pounds sterling]. The intellectual career of Gertrude Stein was structured by a complex and prevailing...

American Magic and Dread: Don DeLillo's Dialogue with Culture.
April 1, 2002... American Magic and Dread: Don DeLillo's Dialogue with Culture. By MARK OSTEEN. (Penn Studies in Contemporary American Fiction) Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 2000. 299 pp. $42.50; 31.50 [pounds sterling]. The thesis of this...

Trickster and Prankster: Roguery in French and German Literature of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
April 1, 2002... Tricksters and Pranksters: Roguery in French and German Literature of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. By ALISON WILLIAMS. Amsterdam and Atlanta: Rodopi. 2000. 263 pp. $ 43. This book begins with definitions of tricksters and pranksters,...

Eighteen Anglo-Norman Fabliaux.
April 1, 2002... Eighteen Anglo-Norman Fabliaux. Ed. by IAN SHORT and ROY PEARCY. (Plain Texts Series, 14) London: Anglo-Norman Text Society. 2000. 42 pp. The aim of this series is to make available (to ANTS members, as part of their annual subscription)...

Repenser l'histoire. Aspects de l'historiographie huguenote des guerres de religion a la revolution francaise.
April 1, 2002... Repenser l'histoire. Aspects de l'historiographie huguenote des guerres de religion a la revolution francaise. By MYRIAM YARDENI. Paris: Champion. 2000. 221 pp. 250 F. The author, best-known for her work on national consciousness during the...

Lucain et la litterature de l'age baroque en France. Citation, imitation et creation.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Lucain et la litterature de l'age baroque en France. Citation, imitation et creation. By JEAN-CLAUDE TERNAUX. (Bibliotheque litteraire de la Renaissance, 3.43) Paris: Champion. 2000. 461 pp. +10 plates. For most, if not perhaps all scholars,...

A Bibliography of French Emblem Books of the Sixteenth Centuries.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... A Bibliography of French Emblem Books of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. By ALISON ADAMS, STEPHEN RAWLES, and ALISON SAUNDERS. Geneve: Droz. 1999. xxxii + 670 pp. 135 SwF. This volume is the first of two, the second due to be published...