The Medieval Hypertext

Since we have Chaucer on the brain these days, I am continually reminded of the conceptual links that should happen when a student of the literature (he or she could be anyone) struggles with the wife of Bath. The wife addresses not just the question of marriage in her own circumstance but also its in relation to the past and to its authorities, reading by literal and historical exegesis. She says

For thanne th’Apostle saith that I am free
To wedde, a Goddes half, where it liketh me.
He saide that to be wedded is no sinne:
Bet is to be wedded than to brinne.

She then “links” to “Lamech,” Abraham, and Jacob.

For more.

Questions of Labor

From the Ordinance of Laborers, 1349

The king to the sheriff of Kent, greeting. Because a great part of the people, and especially of workmen and servants, late died of the pestilence, many seeing the necessity of masters, and great scarcity of servants, will not serve unless they may receive excessive wages, and some rather willing to beg in idleness, than by labor to get their living; we, considering the grievous incommodities, which of the lack especially of ploughmen and such laborers may hereafter come, have upon deliberation and treaty with the prelates and the nobles, and learned men assisting us, of their mutual counsel ordained:

That every man and woman of our realm of England, of what condition he be, free or bond, able in body, and within the age of threescore years, not living in merchandise, nor exercising any craft, nor having of his own whereof he may live, nor proper land, about whose tillage he may himself occupy, and not serving any other, if he in convenient service, his estate considered, be required to serve, he shall be bounden to serve him which so shall him require; and take only the wages, livery, meed, or salary, which were accustomed to be given in the places where he oweth to serve, the twentieth year of our reign of England, or five or six other commone years next before. Provided always, that the lords be preferred before other in their bondmen or their land tenants, so in their service to be retained; so that nevertheless the said lords shall retain no more than be necessary for them; and if any such man or woman, being so required to serve, will not the same do, that proved by two true men before the sheriff or the constables of the town where the same shall happen to be done, he shall anon be taken by them or any of them, and committed to the next gaol, there to remain under strait keeping, till he find surety to serve in the form aforesaid.

I was just going over this as a matter of course and thought the similarities interesting to current wage issues.

Course Resources

I’ve added a new sidebar area for links to available texts on the Internet. The first page is a little rough at the moment and needs formatting but for the Brit lit students some of the links could be quite interesting.

Narratives and Scope

Here’s to Susan, Jim, Joanne, James, John, Josh, Kasandra, and Jason, quickly becoming group Fellows. I thank them most heartily.

It was about air and the things we see, hear, and smell through it and because of it. The evening was complex. Facade with the screen covered made for different experience minus the elegant expressions, and the sound design of HL2 is just astounding. The details matter. How the air sounds in a hall or how a voice diminishes with distance and the sound of glass against concrete. I keep learning how hard it is to write the effect, to catch the dust and the protuberances. It’s an exciting challenge.

And here Susan Gibb examines one of the great spatial descriptions of death here.

Monsters and Others

Perhaps you all have seen the proliferation of monster/alien shows on television, a noticable trend away from the superhero amidst us, to the alien amidst us, which is not unique but going through revival. From Buffy and Smallville to the 4400 and Alien Invasion. The idea of the monster and the alien are related in many ways. In Beowulf, the decendant of Cain is a foul creature who can eat you whole and rip you apart. In The Invasion of the Body Snatchers you are “eaten whole,” likewise in The Thing, but the attack is subtle, infiltrative, and creepy (with lots ooze and gell), unlike the War of the Worlds where the attack has marked borders. Either way, the alien is a monster. In both Beowulf and Invasion, the monster or the alien is NOT US.

The monster always surprises. It approaches from the periphery, from inside us even. The monster is that “other” who is always unexpected, sneaky or not. The world outside the circle of order teems with the agents of chance and aggression. Such is the devil in The Exorcist and the terror agents who killed us and knocked down our buildings. Such is the Green Knight who penetrates from without. Such is Sauron, who sneaks back into Mordor until openly challenging the heros of the day.

Who are the others, what is the other, and how to deal with them, or it, is still a fundamental question. It can be a complicated question of masks, identity, affiliation, affinity, or the design of barriers meant to keep the storm waters out. The clubs children form. The institutions governments make. The images of the artists.

In Battlestar Galactica there are no overt aliens as “aliens.” But the program still confronts the question in that the identity of the enemy is unsure. Who among us, the program asks, will open themselves up as the sudden and unlikely enemy: in a card game, a firefight, a computer system. The robotic army is obviously monstrous, but they are the easy target–openly antagonistic. However, the beautiful but passionate clones are the real danger behind them and the question goes even deeper because there must be a cause behind them as well–guess who? The problem is to flesh the immediate enemy out. As in Gawain and the implications of the pentangle, the skill comes in seeing past the mirage and the agents of bewilderment.

Gawain, Beowulf, and the Question of History

Mark Anastasio begins work on an exam question in his response to this post. He writes:

The warning is that Camelot, like these other great Empires, will fall.

The opening of Beowulf lays out a historical map that takes a much less foreboding tone. It states the achievements of past rulers and gives the listener a sence of how great these men were, but for the sole purpose of setting example. The Thanes wanted to live up to the reputations of thier ancestors, never exceeding them or ever falling short. We get the idea that based on the history of the text , Beowulf will certainly succeed, its in his blood to do so.

In Gawain the history is given, but with the mention of Troy and Rome and societies that paved the way for Camelot we can’t help but feel a little doomed from the start. On the one hand all of these civilizations were quite wealthy, powerful and prosperous in thier day, yet on the other they all came crashing down.

The histories of both these texts are very strong tools of [sic] foreshadow, however the [sic] shadow over Sir Gawains head is much darker.

My response is: how does the story of Gawain bear out this notion of fall and cycle? Why is Gawain as the bearer of the pentangle important to this very notion of fall?

For the Love of the Camera

In a response to George W. Bush’s weird speech last night, John Kerry says: “Leadership isn’t a speech or a toll-free number.” I agree, as would EVERYONE. But there’s another oddness to such a response, as if John Kerry and most other politicians don’t love a speech or slobber at the sight of a camera. We know that “leadership” isn’t a “speech” but pardon me if much of the public square hasn’t been filled with the holy mugs of too many lens lovers over the last weeks, especially during the Robert’s hearings.

Here’s some further dislogic. Bush said in his advert

[. . . ]And that poverty has roots in a history of racial discrimination, which cut off generations from the opportunity of America. We have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action. So let us restore all that we have cherished from yesterday, and let us rise above the legacy of inequality.

When the streets are rebuilt, there should be many new businesses, including minority-owned businesses, along those streets. When the houses are rebuilt, more families should own, not rent, those houses. When the regional economy revives, local people should be prepared for the jobs being created.

Excuse me. The poverty issue has been around for some time. NOW’S the time to confront it, as if the eyes have suddenly come open? There are many kinds of poverty and many people who live in it and with it and who fight it. We know this. The locus of poverty isn’t New Orleans. Connecticut has plenty of it and in many forms, as do all the states. The reasoning in the president’s words is “Let me talk for the love of what the camera can give me” crap.

“Let us restore all that we have cherished . . .” Well shucks. Let’s.