Performing Natural Folly: the Jests of Lean Leanard and the Touchstones of Robert Armin and David Tennant

2006 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Cockett

Robert Armin, one of the ‘principal actors’ of Shakespeare’s plays named in the First Folio, probably joined the Lord Chamberlain’s Men in 1599 to take the place of Will Kempe as the company’s clown; and it was for him that Shakespeare wrote the parts of Touchstone, Feste, and the Fool in King Lear. Received wisdom, in part extrapolated from the nature of Armin’s roles, sees him as a more serious, even morose character than his predecessor, and he took his clowning seriously enough to write a book on ‘natural’ fools, Foole Upon Foole (1600), in addition to some minor verse, and a play, The History of the Two Maids of More-clacke, whence the only known illustration of him in performance derives. Although virtually disregarded by critics as little more than a jest book, Foole Upon Foole was also, argues Peter Cockett, a serious attempt to survey the variety of qualities and conditions of natural folly. It not only reveals much about Armin’s likely approach to his roles, but questions the conventional distinctions between the natural and the artificial fool. With close reference to Armin’s description of one of his subjects, Lean Leanard, Peter Cockett compares what this tells us about Armin’s possible approach to the role of Touchstone with the problems faced by the actor, David Tennant, in the RSC As You Like It of 1996. The author is a professional actor who emigrated to Canada in 1994. He now teaches acting and directing at McMaster University, Ontario, and is working with the University of Toronto’s medieval and renaissance players on a two-year project on the work and repertoire of the Queen’s Men.

2008 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 697-713 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. C. LUBENOW

The question in 1898 of the recognition by Cambridge University of St Edmund's House, a Roman Catholic foundation, might initially seem to involve questions irrelevant in the modern university. It can, however, be seen to raise issues concerning modernity, the place of religion in the university and the role of the university itself. This article therefore sets this incident in university history in wider terms and examines the ways in which the recognition of St Edmund's House was a chapter in the history of liberalism, in the history of Roman Catholicism, in the history of education and in the history of secularism.


Author(s):  
Jeanne Clegg ◽  
Emma Sdegno

Our contribution concerns a phase in the history of the building that gives the University its name. When Ruskin came to Venice in 1845 he was horrified by the decayed state of the palaces on the Grand Canal, and by the drastic restorations in progress. In recording their features in measurements, drawings and daguerreotypes, Ca’ Foscari took priority, and his studies of its traceries constitute a unique witness. This work also helped generate new ideas on the role of shadow in architectural aesthetic, and on the characteristics of Gothic, which were to bear fruit in The Seven Lamps and The Stones of Venice. In his late guide to the city, St Mark’s Rest, Ruskin addressed «the few travellers who still care for her monuments» and offered the Venetian Republic’s laws regulating commerce as a model for modern England. Whether or not he knew of the founding of a commercial studies institute at Ca’ Foscari in 1868, he would certainly have hoped that it would teach principles of fair and just trading, as well as of respectful tourism.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Sarali Gintsburg ◽  
Luis Galván Moreno ◽  
Ruth Finnegan

Abstract Ruth Finnegan FBA OBE (1933, Derry, Northern Ireland) took a DPhil in Anthropology at Oxford, then joined the Open University of which she is now an Emeritus Professor. Her publications include Oral Literature in Africa (1970), Oral Poetry (1977), The Hidden Musicians: Music-Making in an English Town (1989), and Why Do We Quote? The Culture and History of Quotation (2011). Ruth Finnegan was interviewed by Sarali Gintsburg (ICS, University of Navarra) and Luis Galván Moreno (University of Navarra) on the occasion of an online lecture delivered at the Institute for Culture and Society at the University of Navarra. In this trialogue-like interview, Ruth tells about the childhood experiences that were decisive for her interest in orality and storytelling, about her education and training as a Classicist in Oxford, the beginnings of her fieldwork in Africa among the Limba of Sierra Leone, and her recent activity as a novelist. She stresses the importance of voice, of its physical, bodily dimensions, its pitch and cadence; and then affirms the essential role of audience in communication. The discussion then touches upon several features of African languages, classical Arabic and Greek, and authoritative texts of Western culture, from Homer and the Bible to the 19th century novel. Through discussing her childhood memories, her assessment of the development and challenges of anthropology, and her views on the digital transformation of the world, Ruth concludes that the notion of narrative, communication, and multimodality are inseparably linked.


2004 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Saunders

Sarah Kane's notorious 1995 debut, Blasted, has been widely though belatedly recognized as a defining example of experiential or ‘in-yer-face’ theatre. However, Graham Saunders here argues that the best playwrights not only innovate in use of language and dramatic form, but also rewrite the classic plays of the past. He believes that too much stress has been placed on the play's radical structure and contemporary sensibility, with the effect of obscuring the influence of Shakespearean tradition on its genesis and content. He clarifies Kane's gradually dawning awareness of the influence of Shakespeare's King Lear on her work and how elements of that tragedy were rewritten in terms of dialogue, recast thematically, and reworked in terms of theatrical image. He sees Blasted as both a response to contemporary reality and an engagement with the history of drama. Graham Saunders is Senior Lecturer in Theatre Studies at the University of the West of England, Bristol, and author of the first full-length study of Kane's work: ‘Love Me or Kill Me’: Sarah Kane and the Theatre of Extremes (Manchester University Press, 2002). An earlier version of this article was given as a paper at the ‘Crucible of Cultures: Anglophone Drama at the Dawn of a New Millennium’ conference in Brussels, May 2001. Saunders is currently working on articles about Samuel Beckett and Edward Bond.


2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Womack

The approximately contemporary Jacobean plays, King Lear and Nobody and Somebody, share an ancient British setting, a preoccupation with instability in the state, and an unsettling interest in negation. Peter Womack here suggests that by reading them together we can retrieve some of the theatrical strangeness which the more famous of the two has lost through familiarity and naturalization. The dramatic mode of existence of the character called ‘Nobody’ is paradoxical, denaturing – an early modern visual and verbal Verfremdungseffekt, at once philosophical and clownish. His negativity, which is articulated in dialogue with the companion figure of ‘Somebody’, is matched in King Lear, above all in the role of Edgar, but also by a more diffused state of being (withdrawal, effacement, folly) which the play generates in reaction to its positive events. Ultimately the negation in both plays is social in character: ‘Nobody’ is the dramatic face of the poor and oppressed. Peter Womack teaches literature at the University of East Anglia. His most recent book is English Renaissance Drama (2006), in the Blackwell Guides to Literature series.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 691-708
Author(s):  
Harry Walter ◽  
◽  
Valerij M. Mokienko ◽  

The article offers a review on the history of Slavic studies at St. Petersburg and Greifswald universities from the era of Peter the Great to present day. The role of Professor Lyudmila Verbitskaya is highlighted who always actively supported the activities of the Department of Slavic Philology (for example, she approved the initiative to create a department of Ukrainian studies in the early 2000s). Thanks Verbitskaya, St. Petersburg University was historically recognized as the first university in Russia founded by Peter the Great in 1724, which was proven by archival materials stored in Greifswald. Peter the Great, in the assembly hall of the University of Greifswald in September 1712, at a meeting of the Academic Council received a proposal from the President of the German Academy of Sciences Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz on the establishment of a university in St. Petersburg with a European status. The status of the first university was officially recognized by a decree of the Government of the Russian Fed- eration in 1999 when the 275th anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg State University was celebrated. As the Rector of St. Petersburg University, Verbitskaya in 2006 concluded an inter-university agreement with the Rector of the University of Greifswald Professor Jürgen Kohler. Slavic scholars and professors from St. Petersburg and Greifswald Universities collaborate closely. One of the active pedagogical and scientific areas of such cooperation is Slavic studies, which have long combined the efforts of Russian and German philologists.


2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-26
Author(s):  
ЄЛИЗАВЕТА БАРАНЬ

Emil Baleczky (his pseudonyms: E. Latorchanin, O. Vyshchak, and his cryptonym: E. A.) is one of the most prominent personalities in the history of Ukrainian studies in Hungary in the twentieth century. His main scientific interests include Transcarpathian dialectology and historical lexicology of the Ukrainian language. The second stage of the scientist's professional carrier is connected with the University of Budapest, where in 1951, Emil Baleczky was appointed head of the Department of the Russian Language at the Institute of Foreign Languages, and at the same time assistant professor of the Russian Institute at the University. Among the scientific interests of Emil Baleczky was the investigation of lexical units commonly used in Transcarpathia, first of all, in terms of their etymology. Among the achievements of the researcher, special attention must be paid to Emil Baleczky's attempt to determine the origin of some borrowed words, including those originally Slavic, which are common in the Carpathian Ukrainian dialects. Emil Baleczky performed a deep etymological and lingual-geographical analysis of the word урик, урюк, орек in the Ukrainian language, that of the word дюг widespread in Precarpathian Ukrainian, Polish, and Slovakian dialects, and also that of the noun kert in Transcarpathian Ukrainian dialects. The author devoted a separate paper to the study of the origin of dialecticisms like фотляк, csulka ~ csurka, бôшн’ак, булґар’, валах, ґириґ, тôўт, and циганин, investigated the etymology of the terms of national dishes widespread in Carpathian Ukrainian dialects, in particular of the token бáник. He considered the role of the Old Church Slavonic language in the history of the Carpathian Ukrainian dialects. According to his contemporaries, it is known that Emil Baleczky did not maintain official connections with the Soviet Transcarpathians but was surprisingly well-informed about the scientific processes in his native land. He analyzed the works contained in the two editions of the Dialectological Collection of Uzhgorod State University. In addition to examining the issues raised, Baleczky complemented, specified, and sometimes criticized the achievements of his colleagues, which indicates his deep knowledge of Transcarpathian Ukrainian dialectology. Thus, we can state that Emil Baleczky's works testify the high professionalism of the author, his profound knowledge in the field of synchronic and diachronic dialectology. The love of Transcarpathian dialects inspired the researcher to study them thoroughly as well as to present the research results to the general public of Slavists. The main area of Emil Baleczky's scientific interest until the end of his life was Ukrainian linguistics, particularly Transcarpathian Ukrainian dialectology. The aim of this paper is to present the Emil Baleczky's achievements in the field of Transcarpathian Ukrainian dialectology, focusing on the period from 1957 to 1979.


Author(s):  
Natalia Kodola

The research analyzed the biography of the editors of the newspaper of the 2nd Moscow State University "Za Leninym" as well as their role in the management of the publication. We used archival documents of the 2nd Moscow State University which have not been studied before. The newspaper "Za Leninym" was published from 1926 to 1930. Its editors were students and employees of the 2nd Moscow State University. In the 1920s of the twentieth century university mass media were established. There was an acute shortage of professionals who could help the large-circulation press to reach a professional level. The study found that media played an important ideological, informative, and educational role. The newspaper "Za Leninym" was no exception. The leadership of the 2nd Moscow State University was genuinely interested in publishing a newspaper, the editorial board was appointed, the issues of the newspaper and the content of "Za Leninym" were repeatedly discussed. The role of newspaper editors in its development and improvement of the quality of the content of materials and layout was also crucial. Especially it is interesting to learn about the editors who really made a big contribution into science and in the history of the country (Y. Uranovsky, A. Bagdasarov, Y. Bugaysky). Thanks to the editors the newspaper which they wanted to close at its very beginning really took off and was being published regularly until 1930 under the name "Za Leninym", and since 1931 under the name "Kultarmeets".


Author(s):  
Bruno Gil

In the academic year 2017-2018, an experience was launched in 4 course units: Theory of Architecture I and II, and History of Architecture III and IV. The researched object would be the same, while aiming at its intrinsic variations as a way to unravel common and uncommon grounds between theory and history. Besides my voice in the “role of directed research” and the students’ voice in “the role of play”, I felt the need to introduce a third voice, one that would help to “free up the habitual links between things”, in theory and in history. It was how Charles Jencks was introduced to students. The challenge was to question his mappings of architectural evolution, by scrutinising his “evolutionary trees”. In 1973, Charles Jencks published Modern Movements in Architecture, a book resulting from his doctoral dissertation with Reyner Banham’s guidance. It presented a critical mapping of modern architecture, as a solely movement, through the rereading of moments, objects and actors according to “Six Traditions”: logical, idealist, self-conscious, intuitive, activist, and unself-conscious (80% of environment). The permanently incomplete and questionable “evolutionary tree” – yet always intriguing –, had been updated by Jencks himself: in 2000 (Fig.1), and in 2015 (Fig.2). With the latter, new six traditions replaced the previous ones. The Exhibition “Six Traditions” aimed to reveal these two updates. In History of Architecture III and IV, the works focused on the themes of the twentieth century, while in Theory of Architecture I and II, the focus was on the themes of the last twenty years. In group work, written essays introduced, described and questioned the topics within the maps, and were complemented by posters, which would be the core of the Exhibition “Six Traditions”. The work was displayed at the Department of Architecture of the University of Coimbra between January 15th and February 28th, 2019.


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