PERFORM Log
August 1992
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Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1992 11:32:00 EST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: MRIGGIO@TRINCC.BITNET
Subject: Re: Fools & Folly.
Dear Mr. Cummings:
I would suggest that you contact Rose Zimbardo at the State University of New
York at Stonybrook, the English Department, for information on fools in early
drama. She has been working on a similar subject for a long time and may well
have some suggestions for you. She is in California this summer, but will be
back in her Brooklyn home sometime in August and can be reached at Stonybrook
this fall, I am sure. They are probably forwarding her mail at this time, even,
so you could write her now. I don't have the exact Stonybrook address, but
you should have no trouble getting it. Of course, you are looking in early dram
a
for characters whose lineage will lead in part to the Shakespearean fools, who
are wise seers, but the earlier version of the fool will probably take you
into the direction of vice figures, or mischevous misleaders, more than toward
the wisely speaking fools. There are such characters, as, for instance, Backbit
er in The Castle of Perseverance, along with "boys" whose foolishness, in a s
ense,
reflects the lack of wisdom of their own elders, as, for instance, a character
named Pikeharness, a servant boy, in the Towneley Cain and Abel play. The
Bevington anthology will help, but you should also look at the paperback
anthologies; there is, for instance, a volume called Four Tudor Comedies in
the Penguin English Library series, edited by William Tydeman. And Garland
is coming out with another medieval anthology, edited by John Coldeway; it
should be out this month. Good luck.
--Milla Riggio
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Date: Sun, 2 Aug 1992 22:22:05 -0400
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: ljcummings@POPPY.UWATERLOO.CA
Subject: Re: Fools & Folly.
In-Reply-To: <92Aug1.122403edt.81937@poppy.uwaterloo.ca>; from
"MRIGGIO%TRINCC.BitNet@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU" at Aug 1, 92 12:32 pm
It has been written by the hand of MRIGGIO%TRINCC.BitNet@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU
that:
>
> I would suggest that you contact Rose Zimbardo at the State University of New
> York at Stonybrook, the English Department, for information on fools in early
> drama. She has been working on a similar subject for a long time and may well
> have some suggestions for you. She is in California this summer, but will be
> back in her Brooklyn home sometime in August and can be reached at Stonybrook
> this fall, I am sure. They are probably forwarding her mail at this time,
even,
> so you could write her now. I don't have the exact Stonybrook address, but
Thank-you very much for this information, and your book suggestions,
I'm glad to hear that Coldewey is coming out with an anthology, since
I've just finished reading 'contexts for early english drama' by
Briscoe and Coldewey (amongst others)
Your comments on shakesperean fools brings up a point of interest,
(to me at least), being When did the vision of folly turn from
evil/sin to the more autismic Wisdom of Shakespere's Fools?
Was it perhaps several different tradtions, of folly in terms of
foolishness/sin/evil, comedy, as well as the Wise Fool, which were
all seperate conceptions, easily distinguished by the audience?
Again,
MAny Thanks,
James Cummings
ljcummings@poppy.uwaterloo.ca
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1992 08:55:00 EST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: MRIGGIO@TRINCC.BITNET
Subject: Re: Fools & Folly.
Answer to Cummings:
I'm sure your question about this history of the fool will engage better
informed persons than I am. I would guess these traditions are separate,
that the wise fool has a hybrid origin which is in part classical, connected
with the seer. There is groundwork for such a posture also in medieval
drama, with the idealization of what, in Wisdom for instance, is called
"oncunnynge," i.e. intuitive knowing over logic. The mystics, with whom
this kind of teaching is allied, had a kind of madness in their knowledge,
but I don't know if it was specifically related to "foolishness" or
the "fool." So, on to others: you might try Walker Kaiser's book
Praisers of Folly: ERasmus, Rabelais, Shakespeare, HarvardUP, 1963 or
Charles Stanley Felver's book on Robert Armin, Shakespeare's Fool (1961).
This latter is a biographical essay and may not be much help on the
nature of the fool, rather than the actor, but it might have something,
as might Ernesto Grassi's book Folly and insanity in Renaissance Literature
(Binghamton, N.Y., 1986). Or perhaps you could look at R. Chris Hassel's
Faith and Folly in Shakespeare's Romantic comedies (University of Georgia
Press, 1980. I don't know how Hassel handles this subject, but he has
the best book on the use of the calendar in early drama -- festivities,
etc. and so might approach your subject in some way. Best of luck with
your search. Looking back before signing off, I see that I've gotten
Kaiser's name typed wrong: It is Walter Kaiser, not Walker.
--Milla Riggio
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1992 09:31:00 EST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: NAOMI LIEBLER
Subject: Re: Fools & Folly.
To Cummings et al, an addendum to Milla's suggestions: There are several
now classic studies of the fool in drama and in culture: Enid Welsford,THE
FOOL, 1935; William Willeford, THE FOOL AND HIS SCEPTER, Northwestern U. P.,
1969; David Wiles has a book and a number of recent articles (he's probably the
most current of them all, though the title of his book escapes me); Paul V. A.
Williams has edited a whole collection of essays in a volume called THE FOOL
AND THE TRICKSTER, Cambridge 1979 which contains a couple of pieces on the
fool in medieval England and its drama, and also see Robert H. Goldsmith, WISE
FOOLS IN SHAKESPEARE, Liverpool 1958. Don't forget/neglect Robert Weimann,
SHAKESPEARE AND THE POPULAR TRADITION IN THE THEATER--he covers Fools too. Then
there's Sandra Billington's recent book, which I thought very badly flawed, but
what the hell: MOCK KINGS IN MEDIEVAL SOCIETY AND RENAISSANCE DRAMA, Oxford,
1991. She's got an essay in Paul Williams's book too, on the fool in the play
MANKIND.
Good luck, and happy reading.
--Naomi C. Liebler
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Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1992 10:17:21 EDT
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: acarr@ALLEG.EDU
Subject: Re: Fools & Folly.
Speaking of fools,
A few years ago at a conference I heard Kolve give a wonderful
keynote lecture on medieval fools, including a substantial section on
the Feast of Fools, anti-semitism, etc. Has this been published
anywhere?
Amelia Carr, Allegheny College
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1992 10:19:44 EDT
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: acarr@ALLEG.EDU
Subject: Burgundian Funhouses
To Cliff Flanigan or whomever is in charge:
At Kalamazoo you lured us into this project with the promise of an
archived article on "Burgundian Funhouses." I can't seem to find it.
Is it in the Listserve? How can I retrieve it? I'm starting to
think about my fall class on Northern Renaissance art and Burgundy is
always the topic of the first week. Help, and thanks.
Amelia Carr
Allegheny College
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1992 12:05:56 EST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Clifford Flanigan
Subject: RE: Burgundian Funhouses
Dear Amy Carr and other PERFORMers. Never believe what a salesperson tells
you is going to happen after you take the plunge and sign up.
Seriously, the Burgundian funhouse piece will be available at the end of the
month. Jess Hurlbut, its author, has been away from his computer most of
the summer, first because of a trip to a number of archives in Europe, and
now because he is taking a much-deserved family vacation. Jess--who is the
co-owner of PERFORM--hopes tht his piece will provoke some discussion, and
he wants to be around for it. So please, wait just a few more weeks.
However, this query reminds me that one of the things that Jess and I would
like to do with this list is to have items available for discussion. If
that is going to come to pass, you, dear subscribers, will need to be
willing to share some of your unpublished work with us. I really hope that
come the Fall, many of you will share some of the fruits of your summer
labors. Jess and I haven't pushed this in the summer, but now that we seem
to be picking up steam, it's time to think about collective discussions
about some of our own work.
Another thing which Jess and I have thought about is choosing a recent
journal article and suggesting that everyone interested read it and then
have an online discussion of it. I think this could be very fruitful, and
await your suggestions for articles that would be of broad interest.
Thanks for the question about the fun house. Believe me, the funhouse is
coming and so is lots of fun right here on this list, thanks to Jess, but
also to all of you, especially to those who have been participating. So
please stay tuned. And also, please pass along the word about PERFORM,
since the wider the diversity of interests among the subscribers, the more
interesting PEFORM is bound to be.
Cliff Flanigan
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1992 13:29:26 EDT
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: acarr@ALLEG.EDU
Subject: Fun Houses
Cliff, thanks for the Burgundian update. I should have known a
bait-and-switch when I saw it! Discussion of articles sounds
great--(am I cynical in suggesting that during the school year we
won't have this kind of time?) And one more little thing, I keep
feeling guilty that I'm not a member of the Med & Ren Drama Society?
How does one sign up?
Amy Carr
Allegheny College
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Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1992 15:32:00 EST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: MRIGGIO@TRINCC.BITNET
Subject: Re: Fun Houses
Dear Amy Carr:
To join MRDS, simply send your name and address, along with $10.00, to
Professor Milla Riggio, English Department, Trinity College, Hartford,
Ct. 06106. If you do this withing the next month or so, you'll receive
the fall newsletter.
Thanks for asking,
Milla Riggio
=========================================================================
Date: Tue, 4 Aug 1992 15:18:00 EDT
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: AEK@PSUVM.BITNET
Subject: Re: Fools & Folly.
In-Reply-To: ljcummings AT POPPY.UWATERLOO.CA -- Fri,
31 Jul 1992 01:32:16 -0400
In response to James Cummings' inquiry about fools in medieval theater:
Both France and Germany had rich traditions of fools on the stage. In
France the 'sottie' uses wise fools to comment on social situations and
the 'farce moralisee' attacks abuses with negative fools. Heather Arden's
"Fools' Plays" is a good introduction to these genres. The German
'Fastnachtspiele' dramatized folly of all sorts. Joel Lefebvre's "Les
Fols et la folie" is a fine study not only of the plays, but also of other
types of fool literature in Germany in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance.
A more general study of fools from a cultural-historical point of view
is Jacques Heers's "Fetes des fous et carnavals." Each of these books
has a rich and suggestive bibliography.
I hope these titles will supplement the excellent suggestions made
previously by others.
-- Alan Knight
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Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 13:53:52 EDT
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Jesse Hurlbut
Subject: RE: Archeology...
In-Reply-To: Message of Fri,
31 Jul 1992 07:35:00 EST from
Naomi, I like your response--especially since you point to the kinds of
things I am particularly interested in studying. I'd like to refer to
one of your comments here:
>
>The point is that in moving a little bit away from the privilege of the "text"
>as a finished product, most espcially in considering that "printing and
>publishing" themselves were either new or non-existent, depending on the plays
>under study, we are reminded that drama (for lack of abetter term) is a
>cultural artifact that not only incorporates but also constructs its producing
>culture. It's a Janus thing; it looks backwards, retentive of cultural
>phenomena, and forwards, informing the culture that re-produces it, especially
>in the cases of reiterative or repetitive performance (i.e., cycle plays)--any
>play that saw more than one performance would fit that category.
>
I believe that repeat performances can have the culturally entrenching
qualities that you've described here. I also believe, however--and this
takes us one more step away from the 'text' and even from drama--that
there are repeated EVENTS which function the same way (rituals:
coronations, entries, weddings, republican conventions, etc.), and that
these are events which are PERFORMED in one way or another (and thereby
'dramatic' or 'dramaticized'). The performance aspect of these events,
however, does not need to be the same whenever the event recurs.
I point out this distinction to
suggest that the same cultural function is acheived by a same performance
on different occasions OR by different performances for similar events
or circumstances.
Thinking about culturally relevant events that involve performance (as
opposed to performances[='drama'] that are culturally relevant??) always
leads me to anthropological questions about how something as 'PLAYful'
as drama/performance gets to be so important in accomplishing social and
cultural designs.
Jesse
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Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 14:51:43 EDT
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Jesse Hurlbut
Subject: Jour du Jugement
I got to see the manuscript of the _Mystere du jour du jugement_ in
Besanc,on, this Summer, and am trying to build a bibliography of studies
about it. So far, there's not very much. Does anyone know of anything--
particularly any recent work?
thanks
Jesse
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 18:36:46 -0400
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: WRIGHTS@CUA.BITNET
Subject: Re: Jour du Jugement
Jesse: As a matter of fact, Rick Emmerson and David Hult are
collaborating on a translation and study of the _Jour du Jugement_
for the Early European Drama in Translation series. I don't know
if either of them are on-line, but they could definitely provide
an updated bibliography. Rick had a section on the play in his book
_Antichrist in the Middle Ages_ (1981). That might supply a
few bibliographical leads. Hope this helps.
--Steve Wright
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 20:46:00 EST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: MRIGGIO@TRINCC.BITNET
Subject: Re: Jour du Jugement
Dear Jesse:
I thought of trying to stage the Jour de Jugement for Toronto this year and talk
ed to Rick Emmerson at some length about his getting the translation ready in
time for the production. It did not work out, as it happens. Too complex, and
really the wrong play for me. But I'm sure that Rick has much information on it
. I don't think he is a member of PERFORM, though we should encourage him to
join, but he does have an E-mail address. If I look hard, I can probably fi
nd it.
--Milla Riggio
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Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 20:56:00 EST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: MRIGGIO@TRINCC.BITNET
Subject: Re: Jour du Jugement
Dear Jesse:
I do not specifically have Rick Emmerson's E-mail address after all, but
I did write him via the "reply" mechanism and suggest that he join PERFORM.
If he does so, he can reply in his own person. Otherwise, I will ask him
for the address and get it to you.
--Milla
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Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 21:11:00 EST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: NAOMI LIEBLER
Subject: Re: Jour du Jugement
DEAR JESSE,
RICK EMMERSON'S E-MAIL ADDRESS ON INTERNET IS "RICKEM@UNICORN.WWU.EDU"
HOPE THIS HELPS.
NAOMI LIEBLER
=========================================================================
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 21:57:17 EST
Reply-To: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
Sender: PERFORM - Medieval Performing Arts
From: Clifford Flanigan
Subject: Re: Jour du Jugement
Rick Emerson's email address is RICKEM@UNICORN.WWU.EDU. I feel quite
confident that he would not mind my giving it out.
Cliff Flanigan