Research Catalog

Title

The pale cast of thought : hesitation and decision in the Renaissance epic / James Lawrence Shulman.

Author

Shulman, James Lawrence, 1965-

Publication

Newark : University of Delaware Press ; London : Associated University Presses, [1998], ©1998.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

196 pages; 24 cm

Summary

• This book focuses on specific moments of decision-making in the epic poems of Ariosto, Tasso, Spenser, and Milton. In each of the poems, the hero must ultimately confront the choice of Aeneas at the end of the Aeneid - either to kill or to stay his hand. These later epic poems contain reflective heroes who resist the impulses of traditional martial heroism.
• As they deliberate, the progress of the narrative is suspended, and elements of comedy, lyric, picaresque, and romance threaten to fragment authority of the epic genre. Each of these moments reveals a particularly rich locus for observing the movement of the epic toward the novel.

Subject

• Epic poetry, English > History and criticism
• English poetry > Early modern, 1500-1700 > History and criticism
• Italian poetry > 16th century > History and criticism
• Characters and characteristics in literature
• Comparative literature > English and Italian
• Comparative literature > Italian and English
• Epic poetry, Italian > History and criticism
• Poetry > Psychological aspects
• Decision making in literature
• Hesitation in literature

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 157-191) and index.

Contents

1. "Sferza e sprona": The Flight from Authority in the Orlando Furioso -- 2. "L'animo divisibile": The Gerusalemme Liberata between Poetry and Negation -- 3. "Of Things Unseene": Administering the Invisible in The Faerie Queene 5 -- 4. "The Link of Nature": Interiority and the Redemption of Romance in Paradise Lost 9 -- Conclusion: "The Name of Action"

ISBN

0874136350 (alk. paper)

LCCN

97033581

OCLC

ocm37492895

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries