Steve Ersinghaus

I don’t know what it is but there has to be some connection between hypertext and medieval studies. But I don’t know what it is. It’s good to see Carolyn and Susan considering the Pearl poet and Chaucer. This makes them both much taller than five eight.

I get tough questions this semester, which is excellent and refreshing. I run off to find an answer or a solution, but when I figure it I can only give back a hint:
. . . if no better place,
Thank him who puts me loath to this revenge
On you who wrong me not for him [...]

In many of my courses, I have students keep journals where they log their reading and keep notes. Looking back at my description of the journal reminds me of the ancient practice of commonplacing. Weblogs, Tinderbox, and other tools are methods of commonplacing, which plays a role, I would have to say, in the history [...]

From JJ Cohen:
The giants are an ancient, vanished race whose fossilized remains are not mysterious bones or odd topography, but the lingering worship of their iniquity. The references to constructing idols and deifying the sun and moon which follow make it clear that Ælfric has both biblical and classical deities in mind. By describing the [...]

In a comment thread, JJ Cohen of In the Middle writes:
Massive projects require the leap beyond the horizon of your own death. They have to be a message to someone who comes after, and very often to someone who comes LONG after. That person isn’t “us” — as you say, how could the builders have [...]

Just to follow on this post somewhat . . .
I was twiddling with Tinderbox in the office yesterday, beginning some notes on medieval literature, when Carolyn arrived and she asked a series of questions about the tool. This took us into some play with prototypes and adornments as a means of organizing materials.
Of [...]

Thus made their mourning the men of Geatland,
for their hero’s passing his hearth-companions:
quoth that of all the kings of earth,
of men he was mildest and most beloved,
to his kin the kindest, keenest for praise.
Swa begnornodon Geata leode
hlafordes hryre, heorðgeneatas,
cwædon þæt he wære wyruldcyninga
manna [...]

Katherine Nowakowski on CT Repertory’s Macbeth:
The first appearance of Macbeth himself in Act 1, Scene 3 as he and Banquo are returning from their recent battle, our “hero” dons a red colored tartan. Banquo pales in comparison in his earthy browns. Lady Macbeth’s first appearance is even more impressive. Her brilliant blood red dress is [...]

I’m currently writing up and editing standards of evaluation for the Shakespeare course. As I think about symmetry in the lines and how observing and analyzing the plays at this level provides insight into performance, I’m reminded of the importance of the ability to read beyond the text, especially for readers so immersed in their [...]

Francena tells me that some of the students today addressed Macbeth’s plot. This could be interesting. We could deal with plot at several levels–the typical events of a tragedy which call for the fall of a great man, a formula which lays down the pearls of the “plot line.” Tragedy gives us a sense of [...]

Those fine folks coming to the weblog looking for notes on Shakespeare will find matter here soon. And I want to thank Professor Dwyer for taking time away from her own schedule to help get people started. Shakespeare isn’t easy to get into on such short notice and so she deserves lots of thank [...]

I don’t know how long this has been up but a hyper-concordance to Joseph Conrad and many other writers can be found here. If you’re unfamiliar with such a thing, the concordance is a searchable text. I typed in the word “unreal” in the query field for Heart of Darkness to nice results. Type [...]

Thanks to Katherine for joining us in British Literature. I like the way this class doesn’t feel like class sometimes.

In the Winter 2004 Explicator, Tenrence Bowers writes
Similarly, Heart of Darkness invites us to contemplate the moral
structure of the world created by European imperialism. First, we
quickly perceive that world to be a moral sham. European imperialism is
supposed to bring technology, the rule of law, enlightened forms of
government, and other fruits of Western civilization to Africa, [...]

How deep does the concept of unity go in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness? Since Marlow tells a story of crossing, of penetration, then he also tells a story of bordered spatial conditions as movement from place to place, distinct space to distinct space, time to time. Even the text has borders
The land is made to [...]