Laura: Uncovering Gender and Genre in Wyatt, Donne and MarvellHow do men imagine women? In the poetry of Petrarch and his English successors—Wyatt, Donne, and Marvell—the male poet persistently imagines pursuing a woman, Laura, whom he pursues even as she continues to deny his affections. Critics have long held that, in objectifying Laura, these male-authored texts deny the imaginative, intellectual, and physical life of the woman they idealize. In Laura, Barbara L. Estrin counters this traditional view by focusing not on the generative powers of the male poet, but on the subjectivity of the imagined woman and the imaginative space of the poems she occupies. Through close readings of the Rime sparse and the works of Wyatt, Donne, and Marvell, Estrin uncovers three Lauras: Laura-Daphne, who denies sexuality; Laura-Eve, who returns the poet’s love; and Laura-Mercury, who reinvents her own life. Estrin claims that in these three guises Laura subverts both genre and gender, thereby introducing multiple desires into the many layers of the poems. Drawing upon genre and gender theories advanced by Jean-François Lyotard and Judith Butler to situate female desire in the poem’s framework, Estrin shows how genre and gender in the Petrarchan tradition work together to undermine the stability of these very concepts. Estrin’s Laura constitutes a fundamental reconceptualization of the Petrarchan tradition and contributes greatly to the postmodern reassessment of the Renaissance period. In its descriptions of how early modern poets formulate questions about sexuality, society and poetry, Laura will appeal to scholars of the English and Italian Renaissance, of gender studies, and of literary criticism and theory generally. |
From inside the book
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Page 7
... denies him . Little Cupid , signifier of failed love , draws the inescapable circle of Petrarchan form , which , in his story , Petrarch will pursue . But the other circle , the one circumscribed by Chloe , is incom- plete . The Bordone ...
... denies him . Little Cupid , signifier of failed love , draws the inescapable circle of Petrarchan form , which , in his story , Petrarch will pursue . But the other circle , the one circumscribed by Chloe , is incom- plete . The Bordone ...
Page 9
... denies sexuality ; and the two subplots — with Laura as Eve , or woman who returns sexuality , and Laura as Mercury , or woman who invents her own life by escaping configuration altogether . The process of anamor- phosis , or adjusting ...
... denies sexuality ; and the two subplots — with Laura as Eve , or woman who returns sexuality , and Laura as Mercury , or woman who invents her own life by escaping configuration altogether . The process of anamor- phosis , or adjusting ...
Page 10
... denying gestures . " Uncovering " that difference in early modern poems requires an interrogation similar to what Lyotard calls the process of " ana " for understanding the " post " in postmodernism : " a procedure of analysis ...
... denying gestures . " Uncovering " that difference in early modern poems requires an interrogation similar to what Lyotard calls the process of " ana " for understanding the " post " in postmodernism : " a procedure of analysis ...
Page 13
... denies his power to circumscribe her , and asserts her elusiveness in terms of her exclusive control over the field that seemed , until then , the realm where only Petrarch functioned . As reader of the text in which she is central ...
... denies his power to circumscribe her , and asserts her elusiveness in terms of her exclusive control over the field that seemed , until then , the realm where only Petrarch functioned . As reader of the text in which she is central ...
Page 23
... denying Laura . The force is involved in the thing described , not somewhere behind , or apart from , or opposite to it , but there , in the beginning . The force does not necessarily originate in one man named Petrarch , who invents ...
... denying Laura . The force is involved in the thing described , not somewhere behind , or apart from , or opposite to it , but there , in the beginning . The force does not necessarily originate in one man named Petrarch , who invents ...
Other editions - View all
Laura: Uncovering Gender and Genre in Wyatt, Donne and Marvell Barbara L. Estrin Limited preview - 1994 |
Laura: Uncovering Gender and Genre in Wyatt, Donne and Marvell Barbara L. Estrin No preview available - 1994 |
Common terms and phrases
Actaeon Adam Adam's already anamorphic Andrew Marvell anticipates Apollo Appleton House argues Battus becomes begins body Bordone Bordone painting Broken Heart calls Change Clora Coy Mistress critical Damon Daphne David death deer denial denies desire Diana discourse Donne's dream dyad emerges eternity eyes fawn feeling female flee Funerall future Gallery gaze gender Genesis genre gesture idealized imagined imitates initial inspiration invents Jeat Ring John Donne Juliana Kazimir Malevich lady lady's Laura Laura-Daphne Laura-Eve Laura-Mercury laurel list to hunt lover Lyotard lyric male Marvell Marvell's metaphor mirror Monique Wittig mower myth Nancy Vickers narrator nymph original Ovid Petrarch Petrarchan Petrarchan poem poet poet's poetic poetry polyptych present Psalms reading reflects Renaissance revenge Rime sparse 23 sequence sexual sighs song Sonnets space speaker speaks stanza story sublimation suggests tion turns University Press vision Weeping Whoso list woman women words writes Wyatt