![]() Whereas recent studies of the epyllion have posited sexuality as the primary, even exclusive, means of representing beautiful boys, Weaver discovers that Renaissance male sexuality itself is an effect of a disciplinary drama of pedagogical transition from boyhood to adolescence, grammar to rhetoric. Weaver attends to one of the epyllion's defining dramas: boys in transition to adulthood. ![]() deciphering the cultural meanings of an enigmatic genre. Far being merely formal, rhetoric is the key to. So argues William Weaver in this fascinating study of Renaissance education and poetry. The English epyllion, the highly erotic mythological verse that swept the London literary scene in the 1590s, is as much about rhetoric as about sex. Read moreĪ compelling cultural reinterpretation of humanist discourses of boyhood. Underlying all of these concerns is the question of the relationship between language and power. It raises questions about the meaning of desire, about the relationship between self and other, about the troubled connections between comedy and tragedy, and about the connections between beauty, love and death. Venus and Adonis concerns human relationships at their most elemental and frustrating level. ![]() The story of Venus and Adonis thus provided Shakespeare with a situation of intense dramatic conflict that he was able to exploit to illuminate questions that were germane to the real, everyday experience of his readers, and that retain equal, though perhaps different, interest for modern readers. However, in early modern Europe, classical thought was widely held to contain the sources of intellectual and aesthetic truth, while the myths themselves could be reinterpreted for contemporary needs. Renaissance fascination with classical myths, a concern that to a modern reader might seem to be distant and obscure. Like much Elizabethan poetry it is a product of the. Venus and Adonis, Shakespeare’s retelling of the well-known myth of the doomed desire of the goddess of love for a young mortal, is an exuberant erotic narrative and a playful display of linguistic virtuosity in which Shakespeare contrives to tell a tragic story with a vitality of manner that often propels his material towards the comic. ![]() Offering a revisionist account of the genre of the epyllion, Ellis transforms theories of sexuality, literature, and politics of the Elizabethan age, making an erudite and intriguing contribution to the field. Examining both the most famous (Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis and Marlowe’s Hero and Leander) and some of the more obscure examples of the genre (Hiren, the Fair Greek and The Metamorphosis of Tabacco), Ellis moves from considering fantasies of selfhood, through erotic relations with others, to literary affiliation, political relations, and finally to international issues such as exploration, settlement, and trade. Jim Ellis provides detailed readings of fifteen examples of the epyllion, considering the poems in their cultural milieu and arguing that these myths of the transformations of young men are at the same time stories of sexual, social, and political metamorphoses. It was produced mainly by and for the young men of the Inns of Court, where the ambitious came to study law and to sample the pleasures London had to offer. This short-lived genre flourished and died in England in the 1590s. With help from James and Tanya, Ben transforms Mel into a beautiful and sophisticated woman.Based for the most part on Ovid’s Metamorphoses, epyllia retell stories of the dalliances of gods and mortals, most often concerning the transformation of beautiful youths. Gino is convinced that the author carries a torch for him but is in for a nasty surprise when their identity is revealed.Įlsewhere, Ben decides it is make-over time for goofy receptionist Mel. Later, Gino is on the hunt to find which member of staff wrote the manuscript for an erotic novel he has found on the printer, featuring members of staff under paper-thin pseudonyms. However, it is not the guest who ends up in hot water with the police, but Tony, who finds himself facing serious charges and could lose everything. On his night off, meanwhile, Tony is called back to the hotel to help a regular guest with a serious problem. Juliet's blossoming relationship suddenly goes into free-fall. However, Karen's life isn't as rosy as she makes out and she bitterly reveals an explosive secret about Juliet to Sam. Unsure what to do, she confides in Karen. Things have been hotting up in the relationship stakes between Juliet and Sam but he's just invited her to Hawaii and she can't get their troubled past out of her head. An exclusive dating agency is holding a "romantic event" at Babylon and Juliet is delighted when she bumps into her old friend, Karen.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |