CEAUL/ULICES - AS - Série III - nº 5
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- Painting myths with literature: fantasy as (sub-)creation in “Leaf by Niggle” and in “On Fairy-Stories”, by J. R. R. TolkienPublication . Zôrro, Iolanda de Brito eTechnology has shortened geographical distances. We do not deny the paramount position technology has occupied in the political, economical and cultural milieux. However, we likewise recognize that it has been the main reason responsible for the deciphering of the mysteries still left for Humanity to disclose. Thus begins what we will call the twilight of Mankind. With few secrets left to unravel, human beings have had to come up against the extinction of their faith and belief. For Tolkien, the answer to this anguish could be found in the sort of fantastic literature that draws on myth. As such, literature brings back to Mankind pieces of the now lost mythological mystery of the beginning of times. Both “Leaf by Niggle” and “On Fairy Stories” emphasize Tolkien’s description of the literary creative process, comparing it to a contemplative state of awe, to a divine act. Literature, at its core, is an act of mythological (sub)-creation for it sub-creates a world where Recovery, Escape and Consolation become, in fact, real. We aim to prove that myth, fantasy and literature are organically linked and that this trinity has been helping Mankind to survive in a world that is becoming void of mysteries.
- Lessons from the past: the Panic of 1893Publication . Silva, Edgardo Medeiros, 1961-Does financial bankruptcy on a national level imply failure on a personal plane? To what extent does national financial meltdown undermine individual identity and consciousness? Can personal loss of identity and confidence be transposed onto the national level? And what about one’s self-worth, does it become a “valueless currency” as well? I wish to examine in this paper the Panic of 1893 through the eyes of Henry Adams (1838-1918), one of the most insightful observers of the American political scene in the second half of the nineteenth century. Adams’s non-fiction works are particularly illuminating in the context of the postbellum industrialization of the United States and of the development of financial capitalism in the latter part of the nineteenth century. His jeremiadical discourse on the subject of the 1893 financial meltdown of the U.S. economy and on the impact of financial bankruptcy on individuals and nations, provide us with plenty of food for thought these days. The author in question evidences misgivings in his works about the hegemonic impact of capitalism on the lives of both individuals and nations, criticizing the drive for economic supremacy and territorial expansion pursued by the United States at the time. What lessons can we draw from Adams’s personal narrative (and from the past, for that matter) to understand our current financial and political woes is a question which will hold centre stage in this paper.
- A villain and a monster: the literary portrait of Richard III by Thomas More and William ShakespearePublication . Relvas, Maria de Jesus Crespo Candeias Velez, 1959-The process of vilification of Richard III started at the end of the fifteenth century, when a well-planned policy of Tudor propaganda was set in motion by Henry VII himself, who commissioned a series of historiographical writings, mainly aiming at the solidification of the newly founded dynasty. One of the strategies, probably the major one, consisted in the definitive annihilation of the last Plantagenet king of England, whose defeat and death on the battlefield should not by any means transform him into the York victimised hero of the Wars of the Roses. Thus, various historiographers delineated Richard of Gloucester as a vile, wicked, monstrous creature. But the hyperbolic process of vilification undoubtedly reached its highest climax with two major early modern authors. The Life written by Thomas More – The History of King Richard the Third(ca . 1514) – and the play written by William Shakespeare – King Richard III (ca . 1591) – may be considered the epitomes of the tradition that has forever shaped the king as a monster. In this text, I focus on the way More and Shakespeare exploit and amplify the vituperative historiographical tradition, though mostly based on rumour, uncertainties and legendary elements. Within this widely accepted tradition, both authors manage to shape a solid portrait of Richard III, an exemplum not to be imitated or followed, but whose performance, built through a set of powerful rhetorical devices, is masterful, both in the Life and in the play.
- Early modern women’s concept of woman: the weak body and the heroic inner selfPublication . Oliveira, Susana Paula de Magalhães, 1971-“Frailty, thy name is woman!” (William Shakespeare, Hamlet I. ii. 146). Hamlet’s words to his mother encapsulate the dominant and enduring belief regarding the condition of womankind, shared by men and women likewise: women are frail or “the weaker vessel”. Moreover, their weak bodies shelter their weak characters serving as the visible confirmation of the inner-self reality of every woman since Eve. This alleged weakness, or frailty, inherited from mothers to daughters, was perceived in the Early Modern context as inescapable, the result of God’s punishment upon Eve for her responsibility in the original sin that ultimately led humankind to fall. Focusing on women’s literary production, especially with reference to diaries and autobiographical writings, how did Early Modern women perspective themselves, physically and psychologically? Bringing ‘embodiment’ into question, when, how and where does the body become visible in women’s narratives? I would like to argue that the references to the physical and socio-political body in English Early Modern women’s autobiographical writings echo the discourses that labelled women as weak and frail. It is also my purpose to argue that weak bodies accommodate, quite frequently, heroic inner-selves. In this regard, Anne Clifford’s and Margaret Cavendish’s autobiographical texts offer two stimulating and representative examples for analysis.
- The Mists of Avalon: re-writing a siblings’ bondPublication . Martins, Ana Rita, 1970-The tales of King Arthur and his brave Knights of the Round Table were possibly the most popular narratives read in the Middle Ages and have remained a source of never-ending curiosity both for the academia and a worldwide audience. However, of the numerous articles published on the Matter of Britain, very few studies have paid attention to the emotional connection between two of its best-known characters: King Arthur and his half-sister, the sorceress commonly known as Morgan le Fay. Therefore, our goal is to analyse the sibling bond between the two. First, we will take a closer look at their representation during the medieval period, namely in the work of Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte D’Arthur (1420). Second, we shall focus on how Arthur and Morgan/Morgaine’s relationship is depicted in the internationally acclaimed collection The Mists of Avalon (1983), by Marion Zimmer Bradley. This paper aims to show how Bradley’s retelling has not only helped redefine women’s role in Arthurian tales, but has also shed a new light when it comes to portraying Morgan le Fay/Morgaine and Arthur’s relationship and, in particular, the love ties that bind them as sister and brother, mother and son, and as lovers.
- British literature in portuguese literary education during the Estado NovoPublication . Gombár, ZsófiaThis study aims to investigate the position of British literature versus national literature in literary education during the Estado Novo through the analysis of literature textbooks published at the time. The scope of the investigation, however, also includes a limited number of textbooks which may not have been officially authorised as a livro único (single textbook), but were used by schoolteachers in Salazar’s Portugal. Based on the corpus of these books, it seems that the vast majority of Portuguese textbook writers relied more on national literary texts and authors rather than on world literature to legitimise the nationalist ideology of the regime. Nevertheless, a very small number of British authors were included in the course books, if they were considered relevant to the national literary history.
- Definitely not a snapshot. On Welty’s Helena ArdenPublication . Avelar, Mário, 1956-This essay considers the photograph Helena Arden as a humoristic exercise that parodies and deconstructs the conventions of the advertising industry in the early 20th century. This self-portrait by Eudora Welty points towards the referential system of consumer society and the role middle-class women play within it. Based on the interaction between image and word and foregrounding the dialogue between sign and beholder, Helena Arden is a political satire of an era, an artistic medium, and of the artist herself.
- “We need to write with love”: Welty’s political view during the civil rights yearsPublication . Almeida, Diana Vieira de Campos, 1972-This essays applies Eudora Welty’s theoretical remarks about the reading process, namely those presented in the essay “Must the Novelist Crusade?”, to one of the short stories she wrote during the Civil Rights movement, “The Demonstrators”. I argue that the writer adopts a compassionate, non-violent approach to the racial crisis especially acute in the Southern states, based on the belief that the political arena is concomitant with the individual sphere.
- ‘The waiting arms of Missouri’: human connections and sheltered lives in Eudora Welty’s The Optimist’s DaughterPublication . Alves, Isabel Maria Fernandes, 1964- This paper reads The Optimist’s Daughter based on the symbolic, silent, and scarce presence of Missouri, the black housekeeper of the Mckelva’s house. On the one hand, her presence in the novel is rare and subsidiary; on the other hand, her presence signals Laurel’s sheltered life and her need for human connections, showing,as Peggy Prenshaw suggests, that Welty truly believes in “the human connection between freely operating individuals who engage issues that directly affect their lives”. Attuned to the political and social codes of the racial South, the embraces between Laurel and Missouri are silent, but they are also a reinforcement of what Prenshaw designates as the “respectful listening to the position of the other”. Besides, this paper underlines the connection between Missouri and the birds, an association which corroborates Welty’s predisposition to listen to the voice of Nature. In the novel, the birds’ journeys intensify and anticipate the imminent flight Laurel is to take into another life, that of imagination and artistic independence. Their presence may also indicate Welty’s intuition of a collective and racially-based desire for flight and freedom.
- “All things are double”: Eudora Welty’s prismatic viewPublication . Lima, Maria AntóniaThis essay argues that Eudora Welty’s vision was influenced by the American Gothic tradition, with its emphasis on doubleness and mystery. Indeed, not only in several interviews conceded throughout her career but also in her essays and in her fictional writing, did Welty refuse to indulge into conclusive generalizations or to moralize her readers. Thus, she revealed an extraordinary capacity to probe the constitutive ambivalence of situations and characters, and to allude to the flux at the heart of life.