Oops, I got my dates mixed up! I thought the roundtable discussion
submission was open until today. I've just submitted my abstract for
"Spenser and Pleasure" anyway, but I'm not sure I put it in the right
place. So I'm pasting it below in the hopes that it's not too late and
that either you or internet magic will help to sort it out.
Matt
Spenser’s Recreations: Lyric Pleasure in The Shepheardes Calender
This essay examines pits the pleasures of pastoral lyrics – including
friendly competition, harmonizing, and companionship – against the
angst which Colin Clout continually exhibits. Two key intertexts,
Petrarch’s De vita solitaria and The Praise of Solitarinesse (Roger
Baynes, 1577) help to illustrate the tensions between pleasurable
solitary leisure and an unhealthy retreat from all of society. In The
Shepheardes Calender, Spenser depicts both the pleasures of what Paul
Alpers has called “pastoral convention,” and the pains of
self-inflicted poetic solitude. These two seemingly contradictory
models of poiesis are united in the figure of Colin Clout, who
frequently refuses to sing with his fellow shepherds (or sings out of
season), but who also constitutes the most important poetic figure in
the collection. I argue that in the Calender, Spenser illustrates both
the impossibility and the necessity of singing only “to please my
selfe,” as Colin puts it. Poetic creation, for him, is both
solipsistic and communal; the poet must both create and have his poetry
re-created, as shown by the several instances of poetic “recording”
in the Calender. These instances are often leisurely recreations, in
stark contrast to the solitary complaints of a more tortured maker.
________________________________
Matthew Zarnowiecki
Assistant Professor of English Literature
9030 Haley Center
Auburn University, AL 36849-5203
(334) 844-9013
>>> Ayesha Ramachandran <[log in to unmask]> 3/10/2010
7:20 AM >>>
Dear All --
Just a note to say that the SCSC deadline for paper/proposal
submissions
has been extended to 31 March. So, in the hope that this might entice
more
of you to send in submissions, I'm also extending the deadline for
submissions to the Spenser Roundtable to 20 March.
A reminder: the Spenser Roundtable is an annual event at the SCSC
that's
always collegial, interesting and usually well-attended. Papers are
short
-- about 10 minutes -- and the following discussion is always lively.
This
year's topic is "Spenser and Pleasure" -- do consider submitting a
paper!
Best,
Ayesha
Ayesha Ramachandran
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook, NY 11794-5350
(631) 632-7628
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