Women in Dante Gabriel Rossetti's Arthurian Renditions (1854-1867).
Title:
Women in Dante Gabriel Rossetti's Arthurian Renditions (1854-1867).
Author:
Mesa Villar, Jose Maria.
ISBN:
9783035106862
Personal Author:
Physical Description:
1 online resource (487 pages)
Series:
Spanish Perspectives on English and American Literature, Communication and Culture ; v.12
Spanish Perspectives on English and American Literature, Communication and Culture
Contents:
Cover -- Contents 5 -- Acknowledgements 7 -- Introduction Rossettian Arthurianism and the Medieval Revival 11 -- I. Tragic Amorous Relationships in the Context of Arthurian Experience 41 -- I.1 An Assessment of Guinevere's Responsibility for The Rise and Fall of Camelot 41 -- I.2 Guinevere's Search for Atonement: Arthur's Tomb 64 -- I.3 Stepping on Unstable Ground: Sir Launcelot in the Queen's Chamber 81 -- I.4 Females as a Reference Regarding the Conflict between Body and Spirit 103 -- I.5 Doomed Chivalric Worth and the Dual Value of the Magic Philtre 129 -- I.6 Sir Tristram and La Belle Yseult Drinking the Love Potion 149 -- II. Female Mediating Presences Midway between the Earthly and the Divine 161 -- II.1 The Role of Morgan Le Fay as the Main Priestess of Avalon 161 -- II.2 Rossetti and the Issue of Human Eagerness to Grasp the Divine 170 -- II.3 The Mystical Female as a Symbolic Scale of Spiritual Perfection 193 -- II.4 On the Importance of the Guiding Damsel Type to the Progress of Sir Galahad's Fellowshipin the Grail Quest 213 -- II.5 Approaching Beatific Vision: Rossetti and the Attainment of the Grail 240 -- II.6 Interaction with Angels in Tennyson's Sir Galahad 256 -- II.7 Yearning to Breathe the Airs of Heaven: Unsexing the Grail Hero 270 -- III. Female Dependence within the Context of Chivalric Paternalism 283 -- III.1 Helplessness and Heroism in Rossetti's The Death of Breuze sans Pitié 283 -- III.2 And Sure in Language Strange She Said I Love Thee True: Woman as a Creature of Instinct 295 -- III.3 The Entowered Maiden under the Onslaught of Misguidance 314 -- III.4 The Dead Damsel and the Shadow of Unrequited Love 340 -- III.5 Salvation, Restriction and Confinement: The Issue of Male Guidance Concerning the Construction of the Female Self 354 -- III.6 The Maiden and the Beast: Scapegoats in the Wake of Communal Wickedness 362.
Conclusion 433 -- Bibliography 445 -- List of Images and Credits 457 -- Index 463.
Abstract:
This scholarly but accessible volume traces the impact of the enduring themes and key women characters from Arthurian tradition in Dante Gabriel Rossetti's artistic corpus. Combining literary and visual analysis, the author opens a double perspective upon the past to emphasize that the painter-poet's renditions on the legend of Camelot should not be read only as merely illustrative of pre-existing textual sources. Quite on the contrary, his personal take stands out as an eclectic exercise of revaluation providing additional insight into his professional preoccupations and view of the self. Unfolding in three sections, the book first focuses on the tragic love triangles in Malory's Le Morte Darthur, and so on Rossetti's portrayal of Guinevere and La Belle Yseult. Next, it considers the value of female mediating presences and inter-gender unity in the Grail Quest. The third set of chapters addresses Rossetti's view of chivalric paternalism and romantic rescue. For reasons of complementation and contrast, this last section also includes an analysis of the painter-poet's contribution to the stained glass series on the legend of Saint George and the dragon.
Local Note:
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2017. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
Genre:
Electronic Access:
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