Hi Wayne,
I remember first hearing about that particular comic reading of the opening of
the Faerie Queene from Humphrey Tonkin when he was explaining in seminar how
allegory works. But Tonkin's explanation--if it came from Upton--was clearly
a modernized version of the same. He asked us to imagine the difficulties that
a film director would have in shooting the opening sequence of the poem, with
the ass running hard to keep up with the horse, and the dwarf's legs comically
spinning behind.
Has anyone ever heard of a film director tempted to make a movie of The Faerie
Queene? Or was Tonkin just having us imagine the possibility/impossibility of
a cinematic rendering?
Rob
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>Concerning comedy in Spenser, does anyone know the source of the comic
reading of the opening of The Faerie Queene that has Redcrosse spurring and
reining in his horse, Una's ass trotting quickly, and the lamb and the dwarf
running fast to keep up? I remember reading it long ago, or maybe I heard it
at a conference or in conversation, or maybe I made it up, though I don't
think so.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Wayne
>
>>> [log in to unmask] 05/23/05 10:50 AM >>>
>What are some useful lists that you have found? Here are some that I
>came across recently:
>
>Borrowings from Ariosto:
>R. E. Neil Dodge, "Spenser's Imitations from Ariosto," PMLA 12 (1897):
>151*204, with a list of borrowings on pp. 199*204; idem, "Spenser's
>Imitations from Ariosto--Addenda," PMLA 35 (1920): 91*92; and Allan H.
>Gilbert, "Spenser's Imitations from Ariosto: Supplementary," PMLA 34
>(1919): 225*32.
>
>A list of comic passages in FQ:
>Allan H. Gilbert, "Spenserian Comedy," Tennessee Studies in Literature 2
>(1957): 95*104.
>
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>Dr. David Wilson-Okamura http://virgil.org [log in to unmask]
>English Department Virgil reception, discussion, documents, &c
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