I came late to this, having been away from my e-mail and from Manhattan,
where, I remind you, black is the fashion (my grandkid did a picture of me
in a black suit. "Why is grandma so sad?" asked the teacher. "Is there
something wrong?" No, the kid, explained: "Grandma doesn't wear black
becaue she's sad. She wears black because SHE'S FROM NEW YORK!" This is
true). I've just finished teaching Oroonoko in which, it seems relevant to
say, our hero is praised for his beauty: thin lips, long hair, and a Roman
nose--and jet black ebony skin. It's as though Behn was happy with black
but not with different facial features. Interesting--depressing, but
interesting. And yet Behn can also say in another sentence of this
hastily-written book in which a "tiger" is female at the start of a
sentence and male by the end, that he is beautiful *except* for ("bating")
his color. True, all this is later than Sidney and Spenser or Jonson. Anne
Prescott.
> I'm going to take what feels like a risk, here, and admit that I don't
> understand how the "racial meaning" of blackness "differs from" Jonson's
> Masque. The black daughters of Africa who migrate to England seeking
> whiteness are told that they don't need it--they're already beautiful,
> although the English poets have inculcated in them a northern European
> aesthetic. Have I grossly misread the text, or is that somehow not
> racial?
> I found it amazing, possibly for mistaken reasons.
>
>
> _____
>
> David Lee Miller
>
> Department of English 543 Boonesboro Ave
> University of Kentucky Lexington, KY 40508
> Lexington, KY 40506-0027 (859) 252-3680
> (859) 257-6965
> FAX 323-1072
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sidney-Spenser Discussion List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of William Oram
> Sent: Monday, November 24, 2003 7:57 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Blackness in the 16thC
>
>
> Don't forget the racial meaning, e.g. Othello., which differs from the
> Masque of Blackness. Virginia Mason Vaughan, Othello: A Contextual
> History has lots of good material, some of it 16thC. Bill Oram
>
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