The Renassiance

We are coming to the close of the Renaissance and I still constantly misspell the word as a blog- which I think is fitting for the age. It is a movement and era in history which is hard to define and grasp in a simple singular dimension. Of all the eras we have studied in HUST ( and at this point due to my unusual HUST journey I have studied them all!) I find the Renaissance the most enigmatic. Enigmatic in the same sense its most famous portrait the Mona Lisa is- it appears simple enough at first but then we realize we are just skimming the surface and there is something mysterious hidden in the portrait that has never been achieved before

This is perhaps due to the fact that more than any other era in history it was extremely transitional. Perhaps it is because the Northern and Southern Renaissance are very different but share a common thread at their core. It was an which marked a decided shift into the modern era with the explosion of new ways of thinking and a reformation which would change the political and religious face of Europe permanently.

In the end I think we must judge a tree by its fruit. And the fruit of the Renaissance was magnificent art, clever dialogues, and books and books and books!

Who Doesn't Love Fairies and Knights?

The way I see it there is no way this The Fairy Queen can fail. It has all the classic ingredients for a timeless tale- knights, fairies, and every other mythical creature the western world has to offer ( well he did miss the vampire boat). There are so many levels to this work political, religious, and historical but it is also an enjoyable story filled with the same kinds of stories people have enjoyed for thousands of years. The poem has great depth but that shouldn't distract from the fact that the story is fun and worthy of enjoyment without all the intellectual analysis. Spencer goes to great depth to make the poem sound exciting and easy to stay interested. It is no summa theologica and to ignore the lighter and more fun side of the poem would be to miss something.

A New St. Thomas!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE St. Thomas Moore! As a Catholic Humanist he is one of my ultimate models. Combining an exemplary faith life with astounding intellectual acheivment. True there have been other famously intellectual saints ( I think one of them is named St. Thomas Aquinas, he is famous or something like that?) and there have been a long score of matyrs (Perpetua and Felicity remember them?) and even a few married ones...ok I can really only think of one at the moment( St. Monica- the mama of Augustine) BUT Thomas More is all of these things and as a result becomes a very rare kind of historical and religious figure. In a truly Renassiance fashion he is able to perfect mutltiple areas of life- spiritual, personal, political, intellectual- and blend them together seamlessly. He is also truly captures the spirit of the HUST program as he integrates his love of truth and knowledge into everything he does and approach everything problem with an integrated view of the world at large.

O- and he was a huge advocate of woman's education :)

The Father Land

The role of Germany in European history has struck me a lot this week. In my cultural history course on the modern era we are currently at the opening of World War II and discussing the ever evolving role of Germany in the political world of Europe. It seems as though the Germans enjoy creating revolutions which eventually spread throughout the continent and forever change the course of history.

Or course, Martin Luther created an entirely different kind of revolution than the third Reich. And of course, Nazism and Lutheranism produced far different changes. However, I think it does point to the influence over German thought and the power of the people to shake things up. I wonder if it is primarily due to Germany's location in the heart of Europe, which would make its role in European life inevitable. Of course, simply pointing to its geography would be unfair. There also must be something unique about the character of the German people. Hmmm....

The Web of The Humanities

One reason I love HUST is that it brings the richness of the material alive by allowing it to be fully contextualized and connected. I think this point is illustrated while reading Erasmus. The meaning of his text is greatly enhanced when I have an understanding of his little letter to his friend Thomas Moore( I hear he is kind of a big deal) and his relationship with Martin Luther (the 16th century reformer - not the civil rights activist). If I did not know the climate in which he was writing "The Praise of Folly" and his personal background the criticisms of the church and theologians would have gone right over my head ( at least more so than they already do).

However, I think it is even more significant the way in which contextualizing a work can add to a greater understanding of the time period and the broader theme which it is addressing. "The Praise of Folly" is great but it is most beneficial to me in so much as it adds to my understanding of Erasmus, the world he lives in, and the realities surrounding this period in Western Civilization. Without an interdisciplinary approach to material a great deal is lost and some might say it is ALL IN FOLLY

What Makes A Man?

I was thinking on Cellini- who both fascinates me and disgusts me for many reasons and I started wondering how he would hold up in modern society. True, he was a great warrior, possessed more than a normal amount of machismo, and could prove himself the equal of almost any man in almost every category of Renaissance life but there is much more to him. His greatest accomplishments, and those which ultimately stood the test of time was his art and writing.

Cellini was considered a model of manhood and was a model jeweler. How would that translate into modern society? It seems as though a lot of what made Cellini great and acclaimed in his own time would not earn him the status he achieved in his own day. He was the equivalent of an Italian rock star and he played the flute for the pope. P-diddy and Enrique Iglesias cannot play the flute- and I'm fairly certain if they did it would not be for the pope.

In a way its almost comical how so much of his greatness would be laughed at or trivialized in modern society but I still believe he would prove himself now. He conquered everything set before him and I doubt there is something in the modern world he would fail to succeed in.

Trophy Lady

Reading the description of what a woman in court should be made my skin crawl! I don't care very much for the ideal of a courtier but the lady was far worse. Almost her entire merit and virtue lies in her ability to be pleasing to others. Her virtues and goals are confined to her appearance and the way she makes other people feel. She must be charming, witty ( though not witty enough to cause offense of course), AND OF COURSE BEAUTIFUL!

She is required to have brains and knowledge but only so long as it lends itself to pleasing conversation. She is forbidden to ever use her intellect to create anything that would cause a stir or challenge another member of the party, or for that matter contain substance. The most infuriating part is that they spend pages and pages talking about how she should focus on her appearance and the image which she portrays but only about two sentences on how important it is for her to actually possess virtue.

She is suppose to appear chaste rather than be chaste, appear intelligent rather than be intelligent, and appear like she loves you company rather being a true friend. How is this desirable? How can any wise man or woman fail to recognize that one must focus on substance and truth rather than appearance and act to attain true happiness?

FAIL CASTIGLOINE- I cast you into the Renaissance trash can

O The Places the Renaissance Mind Will Go!

While looking for a link between all the texts which we have read so far in Colloquium II I noticed that there seems to be a great need for adventure and different kinds of travel. The Renaissance mind seems to be drawn to different and new places- even if they are in a different time period or continent. Petrarch was almost obsessed with the exotic world which existed in ancient times. He himself also found the need for travel- visiting much of his modern world. The Decameron is not devoid of travel or sense of adventure. Although these travels are not often very exotic, they do often emote a sense of adventure. Sir John Mandeville's tale is clearly the most adventurous of all the writings we have encountered so far. The subject of the work is the traveling itself and it takes the reader to places far beyond the average Renaissance person's mind or experiences.

Is a sense of travel and adventure truly close to the Renaissance heart?It does appear that the two go hand in hand in the quest for the search of what it means to be human. Furthermore, people of the time enjoyed a good time just as much as we do ( if The Decameron is an indication at all) and thus sought after different forms of entertainment. It is true that travel stories do usually provide for decent entertainment and are a good basis for a story. Lastly, I think of the HUSTers and their views on traveling. In our liberal arts education and quest to become the ultimate Renaissance women must of us go abroad and value it as an integral part of our educational experience. Learning how to be connected to our past and the great ancient ways of western tradition.

Thus, traveling is much more about the process of self-discovery than arriving at a physical destination. This is just as true as was in the Reniassance as it is today!

Creepy Old Men

Filostrato creeps me out. I lived in Spain for a semester and I feel I am sufficiently acquainted with his type- the man who could be your grandfather telling you how attractive you are as you stand there uncomfortably at the local grocery store. Although, Filostrato is Italian- and I have it on good authority that Italian men are even worse.

Filostrato not only makes comments that would be inappropriate in any setting about his sexual appetite and love for women- he goes on a four page soliloquy about. The strangest thing about his profession of love for all womankind is how often he brings his age into the discussion. He hints many times that his age makes this kind of behaviour inappropriate to many people. Interestingly enough, no one in the group seems to find this odd or negative. They accept his long compliment of their feminine beauty and description of his natural appetites. `

Does Boccaccio mean to make the situation seem inappropriate- particularly because of his age. Or is this suppose to be accepted behaviour in Florentine society? Boccacciow certainly meant to convey something to us through the old creepy Filostrato. Whether or not he was suppose to be creepy- I really can not say, except he is creepy to me.

Naturally Dramatic

While reading Renaissance literature I have a hard time taking it seriously at first- but then I realize it is simply my pride trying to guard my secretly overly-dramatic and poetic tendencies from being exposed. In our modern culture we tend to not take people very seriously when they talk about their hearts being drowned in tears or the death of their soul. But...WHY NOT!? For people like Petrarch and Cereta it would have been unnatural to express their feelings and experiences without poetic lyricism or detailed metaphors born of mythology. The only reason I first discredit these works is because I tend to view such dramatization of words and feelings as fake. However, I have come to realize that this is a flaw of my modern construction and not one which would have been applicable to Petrarch of Cereta.

In fact, I also belong to the group of very dramatic overly verbose members of the human race. I am sure this syndrome is only aided by my classical education and encountering an abnormal number of people who express themselves in a like manner through reading. However, I am constantly frustrated by the fact that people tend to not take my seriously when I construct metaphors involving a tree and my fading girlhood. As a result, I tend to only speak this way to my close friends and in my journal. If only I lived in 14th century Italy!