Pastoral and the Poetics of Self-Contradiction: Theocritus to Marvell

ISBN-13: 9780521442060 / Angielski / Twarda / 1995 / 236 str.

Massachusetts) Judith Haber (Tufts University

Opis

The traditional view of pastoral as a static genre, aimed at the recreation of an idyllic past, has recently been challenged by historicist critics. Here Judith Haber complicates the opposition between humanist and historicist perspectives by examining ways in which pastoral poets themselves interrogate the contradictory relations inherent in their genre. Focusing on texts by Theocritus, Virgil, Sidney, and Marvell, Haber revises current understanding of pastoral, and raises wider questions about literature in society and the establishment of literary tradition.

Recenzje

"Haber renews the freshness of a subtle and tricky mode that just flat out refuses to die....Haber's slender but elegant book will test the resilience of both the genre itself and its interpreters." John Bernard, Modern Philology

Spis treści

Acknowledgements; Texts and abbreviations; Introduction: 'Remedies themselves complain': pastoral poetry, pastoral criticism; 1. Bringing it all back home: bucolic and heroic in Theocritus' Idylls; 2. Si numquam fallit imago: Virgil's revision of Theocritus; 3. Pastime and passion: the impasse in the Old Arcadia; 4. Complaints themselves remedy: Marvell's lyrics as problem and solution; Epilogue: farewell to pastoral: The Shepherd's Week; Notes; Works cited; Index.