tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-226577382011-11-13T16:28:41.994-05:00Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.comBlogger3591100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-14859078374690370662011-11-05T09:50:00.002-04:002011-11-05T10:40:44.039-04:00

This, from today's New York Times: a story about "Lush Workers," as they're called in our day and age, who slice open the pants pockets of drunken subway riders to steal their wallets. I'm posting it here because it's such a nice revision of a canonical historical oddity -- The Cutpurse -- that sits so prominently in the ways we think about theatrical culture in Tudor and Stuart London. All of

Greenwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02281775492712935997noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-5224476824453301002009-09-10T13:15:00.002-04:002009-09-10T13:21:02.005-04:00

It seems like, now that we have gone dark, or at least grey, we are getting more kudos than ever. Something calling itself the Accredited Online Universities has posted something calling itself the "100 Best Blogs and Websites for Innovative Academics." So if you are innovative, you really should be checking out these blogs and websites. Included among these best for the innovative is BtR:Whether

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-72321477636708236922009-04-06T13:55:00.011-04:002009-04-06T14:24:57.710-04:00

One of the good things about living in Old Europe is that there are plenty of abandoned sewers, and on Sunday I walked much of the route that the Fleet River once flowed. Still flows, in fact, although now it’s a subterranean waterway. The Fleet was a major river in Roman and Anglo-Saxon Britain, with wells and springs dotting its banks: hence Clerkenwell. But by the time we get to our period, it

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-23284682675479097022009-03-23T20:53:00.003-04:002009-03-23T20:59:39.028-04:00

This image is freaky as all get out (and completely off topic). Barbie has hip and leg "bones." And a skull. If only Richard Brome or A. S. were alive to make a joke about the flesh and the bones.More cool CT scans here.

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-13683778995854309682009-03-18T20:47:00.002-04:002009-03-18T20:49:44.528-04:00

Is Cambria becoming the new Times New Roman? Would this be a good development?

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-74581988997926001212009-03-09T14:12:00.005-04:002009-03-09T14:18:15.421-04:00

Stanley Wells has the goods on the Cobbe portrait.I personally like to imagine Shakespeare having weight issues as the reason for the fluctuating rotundity of his face in various paintings and carvings.

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-34126288351659938452009-03-09T13:34:00.002-04:002009-03-09T13:38:01.439-04:00

It appears Stephon Marbury is doing his best Iago on the Boston Celtics.Commented Kevin Garnett: "Weird thing is, he kept calling the other guys moors, which is just really messed up," the 12-time all-star said. "I mean, what is that, anyway? He didn't say it like it was a good thing. If he plays good basketball he can do what he wants, but I'm not going to listen to anyone call me or my guys

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-45140002483271456172009-02-04T11:13:00.003-05:002009-02-04T11:19:57.850-05:00

From a relative of mine in the midwest, not snow, but ice. Many places without power for a second week.

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-74403525975853162572009-02-02T13:45:00.004-05:002009-02-02T14:04:41.353-05:00

'If snow be white,' wrote our immortal bard, 'why then her breasts are dun'. Whether this is a line about cooking chicken, or an odd, but early assessment of John Donne, it was doubtless ringing in the ears of the jubilant schoolchildren who covered the hill opposite my garret (pictured below). I could see hundreds of them: fighting, tobogganing, throwing snow balls. Lacking sleds, they

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-76573305799866025232009-01-23T12:28:00.003-05:002009-01-23T12:30:40.204-05:00

I recently stumbled upon this site and have been enjoying it ever since. I can't say I enjoy Last Question Class Extenders any more than my students do.

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-15605662264547793402009-01-12T16:55:00.002-05:002009-01-12T17:09:35.880-05:00

I may be turning into the foolish gentleman of jest lore, but sometimes I wish more early modern jokes came with an explanation. To wit: anyone care to explain Bull #216 from the fine 1636 collection mentioned by Greenwit, A. S., Gent., The Booke of Bulls, Baited with two Centuries of bold Jests, and nimble-Lies (STC 4941.5)?One refusing to eat Chees-cakes, was askt his reason, hee told the[m]

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-64292868111145569052008-12-17T22:42:00.002-05:002008-12-17T23:27:43.949-05:00

Bardolph's post and Simplicius' comment got me wondering about early modern jokes that are funny not because of their anxious explanations of themselves or their stylistic quirks, but because we still get them and respond to them. They're out there, of course, but in jest books? Off I went to 1636's finest collection, The Booke of Bulls, Baited with two Centuries of bold Jests, and nimble-Lies.

Greenwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02281775492712935997noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-67850529859602502892008-12-10T13:01:00.002-05:002008-12-10T13:09:22.469-05:00

There's nothing I like more on a cold Thursday evening in December than to pour a large sherry, stoke up the fire, pluck down my copy of Pasquil's Jests (1604), and settle in for the evening. Pasquil's Jests is, as you might imagine, a jestbook: a gathering of prose comedy gems, in black letter. It's a book, the title-page declares, 'Pretty and pleasant, to driue away the tediousnesse of a

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-56864278457823765022008-11-30T11:31:00.002-05:002008-11-30T11:35:45.611-05:00

We interrupt this extended hiatus for an important announcement from Google Books:Three years ago, the Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers and a handful of authors and publishers filed a class action lawsuit against Google Book Search. Today we're delighted to announce that we've settled that lawsuit and will be working closely with these industry partners to bring even more

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-71538642507148955542008-11-23T12:57:00.002-05:002008-11-23T13:14:58.081-05:00

Surprisingly long article in Friday's NY Times about the possible death of irony. Do you think its author, Andy Newman, has a working definition of irony, or, more harshly, knows what it means and how to spot it? Reading it over, I find no firm evidence suggesting he has or does. The closest the article comes to a definition is in a quotation from Roger Rosenblatt, who said, "Irony is a

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-85968033207624359772008-11-19T13:06:00.003-05:002008-11-19T13:15:49.823-05:00

I missed this when it was first reported (I just heard about it on the radio), but a biologist working at the Grand Canyon recently died of the plague:One day last October, Eric York lugged the carcass of an adult mountain lion from his truck and laid it carefully on a tarp on the floor of his garage.The female mountain lion had a bloody nose, but her hide bore no other signs of trauma. York, a

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-66315945496766175122008-11-01T11:09:00.003-04:002008-11-01T11:12:02.269-04:00

In case anyone missed this a few weeks ago:I love the way Colbert one-ups his distinguished guest.

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-89963935739566644472008-10-28T14:58:00.006-04:002008-11-23T13:17:43.568-05:00

I've never had a particularly good sense of the size of England.If you too have had this problem and you are more familiar with the states of the U.S., here are some comparisons you can use:England (50,346 sq mi) is roughly the same size as Louisiana (51,885 sq mi).Wales (8,022 sq mi) is roughly the same size as New Jersey (8,729 sq mi).Scotland (30,414 sq mi) is roughly the same size as South

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-79992572259522331822008-10-21T14:22:00.002-04:002008-10-21T14:32:23.012-04:00

Lee "Sprezzatura" Siegal writes about the classics. While I tend to agree with the idea that reading "great books" does not create "good people," I also find myself loathing him (once again). More enjoyable is the delicious irony of having this practitioner of sock puppetry make this particular argument. The short version: blame it on Bellow. It's tough to be human (like Siegal) with members

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-83423864526126533882008-10-19T12:10:00.001-04:002008-10-19T12:10:53.605-04:00

I'd just like to announce that BtR raised $150 million* in September. Thanks to all our contributors!* insert your own joke here.

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-78179878395446400002008-10-09T17:51:00.004-04:002008-10-09T22:48:42.236-04:00

I step away from my computer at around 2pm this afternoon, thinking the markets are going to be relatively calm today, and--boom--the stock markets plunge over 6%?!? What the f*ck?!?Update: And now Asia's markets are experiencing steep declines (8-10% as I type). I pass all this news along simply to note that here at BtR we're aware of the global financial meltdown. Flavia mentioned last week

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-19958580359513098262008-09-23T04:11:00.001-04:002008-09-23T04:12:38.177-04:00

... there's Cavalier poet Robert Herrick and 80s soft soul crooner Lionel Richie. Both men for the ladies, of course.What's going on?

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-4633187818324619592008-09-23T04:02:00.007-04:002008-09-23T04:11:09.345-04:00

Here's a thing. Have you ever noticed the similarity between our friend John Milton, and the coach of the Czech Republic football team, Karol Bruckner?

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-3182273288815075772008-08-27T13:26:00.002-04:002008-08-27T13:42:11.722-04:00

Well, it's been about a million years since I've posted here, and I know the blog has become pretty dormant. I guess that's the way things are going in our lives these days. And it seems a little self-indulgent to come back from my bloggy deadness to toot our own horn, but I have to say, this is pretty cool.In the new Blackwell's Companion to Digital Literary Studies, Matthew Steggle has a

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-72392104639159219932008-08-11T09:46:00.004-04:002008-08-11T09:58:15.106-04:00

2008, Beijing.1606, Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire. Robert Dover's Cotswold Games, featuring, if the 1636 title-page of Annalia Dubrensia (1636) is anything to go by, the lost sport of erecting castles on little plinthes. The Michael Phelps of 1606 Gloucestershire is bottom left, expertly picking up his long stick. But what's the odd pattern centre right?

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-88176253619425473322008-08-08T08:24:00.006-04:002008-08-08T08:35:08.056-04:00

A live post, while I'm watching the start of the Games on my laptop -- the whole thing collapsed into 12 inches. But it's the history of the book! Manuscript to print! A scroll! A codex! The ridiculous BBC commentator is now talking about the history of movable type! History of the Book MAs won't know what has hit them: 6 billion watching. And -- hang on -- my god -- is that Peter Beal strolling

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-44359470745442176672008-05-31T11:57:00.005-04:002008-05-31T12:19:34.134-04:00

Everyone's favourite journal, of course. I love it, in particular, for the marvellous titles it trots out. And on Friday, as undergraduates failed to turn up for their initial dissertation meetings, I took to trawling through old copies, online. It started when I saw a title from the 2008 edition: Thomas Merriam, 'Shakespeare's Use of 'Holy Water' is Not Typical of Playwrights of his Time'.

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-4216053921109602922008-04-29T10:40:00.002-04:002008-04-29T10:47:34.654-04:00

sharpen your pencils?The Lady has hit the big time over at Daily Kos.

Greenwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02281775492712935997noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-75511922275293739882008-04-28T06:30:00.002-04:002008-04-28T06:34:54.379-04:00

Apologies for non-blogging: I've been marking thousands of student papers. Tedious beyond belief, save for the odd accidental gem. Best so far: 'Regicide was the king of crimes'.I mentioned reading Stern and Palfrey's Shakespeare in Parts, and some of you were up for that. So: a deadline. How about 1 June? Nice and far away.

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-15879111733516891802008-04-08T13:40:00.004-04:002008-04-08T13:48:24.422-04:00

Which is, of course, an anagram of Renaissance Society of America. Will anyone stand up for our Yeti friends? I don’t think I can. The final evening reception was magnificent, in the sense that there were mountains of food and free-flowing drinks, guzzled down in a room the size of an aircraft hanger. But this, clearly, is where the bulk of the large registration fee goes: and it seems insane

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-30047396022957893312008-04-05T19:19:00.003-04:002008-04-05T19:29:32.701-04:00

OED2d. An occasion of ceremonious receiving; an assemblage of persons for this purpose. Now usu. a party at which guests are formally greeted, esp. after a wedding.1865 LD. BROUGHTON Recoll. Long Life (1911) VI. ix. 54 On March 5 [1842] I dined at Lord Palmerston's... Lady Palmerston had a reception afterwards. I'm off to dine with Lord Palmerston: details to follow.

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-56551288367660859152008-04-03T19:15:00.002-04:002008-04-03T19:37:28.751-04:00

Bardolph here, embedded in Chicago. Now this is a city, after all that Dallas nonsense.Too weary to fashion any conference meta-strands right now: jet lag and day-one sociability-exhaustion kicking in. But in the mean time, some early thoughts: (i) scheduling and room allocation seem to have been executed with the savvy efficiency of Guiliani's presidential bid team. So that, for instance, some

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-27941578467098718592008-03-29T09:21:00.002-04:002008-03-29T09:34:03.319-04:00

Parts seem to be very much of the zeitgeist right now, along with knotted scarves worn indoors, chorizo, and, bafflingly, Leona Lewis. So I thought I'd propose reading Stern and Palfrey's Shakespeare in Parts. I'm not a drama person; certainly no Shakespeare nut. Heaven forbid. But it seems like it has lots of implications for all kinds of work. So: anyone like to join me on the dance floor of

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-19973170799299694472008-03-28T20:50:00.002-04:002008-03-28T20:51:08.740-04:00

Bumper sticker seen on a car in Neighborhood, in the city of City, today at approximately 5.53 pm.

Inkhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00795106140154787453noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-15589588153729332762008-03-18T12:57:00.002-04:002008-03-18T13:06:10.795-04:00

I am a fan of Texas because I am a fan of Houston. I spent a little time there, in the pastoral period of my poetic career, my oaten reeds years, and found, to my surprise, that the gun ranges were outnumbered by Cy Twombly pieces. Brilliant food, too, served in plates so big you could curl up and sleep in them after the meal, if that’s the kind of madness that grips you. And the music. And the

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-42924327362455887322008-03-18T12:27:00.001-04:002008-03-18T12:28:09.831-04:00

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the hotels all had signs saying that concealed weapons were prohibited in the hotel. Cultural difference!

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-47586094064632527152008-03-17T20:19:00.015-04:002008-03-18T12:27:07.410-04:00

I'm inspired by Hieronimo to propose another picture of another city that isn't Dallas, but pretty much could be -- and another place that, without oil, would probably barely be inhabited. Already before my plane landed, when it was skimming along above endless miles of the worst, most densely-packed and depressing tract housing I've ever seen, I thought we might be in trouble in this place. This

Inkhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00795106140154787453noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-3022188676872937282008-03-17T13:21:00.003-04:002008-03-17T13:57:14.143-04:00

Here's a picture I snapped on Friday afternoon at the SAA.Ok, that's Pompeii, but I think Pompeii may have about the same number of street-level shops and restaurants as downtown Dallas. Where is everybody? On Friday afternoon, in the middle of a work day, there was no one on the street except Shakespeareans. It was like a scene out of The Omega Shakespearean. Very bizarre.Now, I went to Dallas

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-32358351866353464242008-03-12T22:52:00.002-04:002008-03-12T22:55:00.893-04:00

SAA seminars are like a blind date with ten to fifteen strangers at one time.

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-61142194275300444572008-03-03T09:06:00.003-05:002008-03-03T09:20:19.748-05:00

This will be my last piece of Burtoniana. Masses of people will no doubt express surprise and relief -- or maybe shock and rage -- when I write that I have now ploughed my way through the whole thing. I think this requires a moment of counting, because in my edition, the page numbers restart three times: first for the preface and the "First Partition," on causes and symptoms; next for the "

Inkhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00795106140154787453noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-83690620632553940232008-02-26T19:07:00.005-05:002008-02-26T20:29:21.024-05:00

Our dear friend Wat has exposed us as the lazy frauds we are, by submitting a new entry for our Holzknecht Redivivus series -- another play that our man Holz seems to have neglected. At least, it's not in my copy. (But what is in my copy, I notice, is -- just before the Index of Plays and Playwrights -- a sort of amazing woodcut called "A Fight with a Snail," which might be right for some

Inkhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00795106140154787453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-7411257347172217272008-02-17T13:06:00.004-05:002008-02-18T12:50:34.450-05:00

If any of you splendid readers are in the London area in the next week, I'd recommend wending your way to the state apartments of Kensingon Palace, where the theatrical group Angels in the Architecture are performing a promenade version of Marlowe's Dido, Queen of Carthage. I went last night: it's generally excellent, and seeing the tale of a doomed royal's love works well amid the neo-classical

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-32454435752653381412008-02-12T12:50:00.000-05:002008-02-12T12:58:09.513-05:00

I’m dawdling towards the end of my monograph and have started to wonder about the not unpleasant task of christening the little beast. So I’m constantly scribbling down quotes, most of which have nothing to do with my subject but which strike me as somehow funny or odd or generally simpatico. Things likeThe blizzard of the page.The kindness of novels.A piece of traffic.Richly cloath’d Apes, are

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-27775855227770140882008-02-11T22:32:00.001-05:002008-02-11T22:55:54.087-05:00

OK, so it turns out the thing I was speculating about there is just Epicurean therapy:He found it by experience, and made good use of it in his own person, if Plutarch belie him not; for he reckons up the names of some more elegant pieces, Leontium, Boedina, Hedeia, Nicidium, that were frequently seen in Epicurus' garden, and very familiar in his house. Neither did he try it himself alone, but

Inkhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00795106140154787453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-69652834462232270602008-02-08T22:12:00.000-05:002008-02-08T23:21:36.614-05:00

Here's Burton, writing about the stars:Then (I say) the earth and they be planets alike, inhabited alike, moved about the sun, the common centre of the world alike, and it may be those two green children which Nubrigensis speaks of in his time, that fell from heaven, came from thence. (Pt. 2, Sec. 2, Mem. 3, p. 54).Well, OK, "Nubrigensis" is William of Newburgh, so these are actually

Inkhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00795106140154787453noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-45183149125163521402008-02-05T07:24:00.000-05:002008-02-05T08:43:13.817-05:00

I've reached the end of Part One of Burton -- which I feel pretty good about. I think I'm approaching the half-way point, since Part One is disproportionately enormous and etceterative, being the place where Burton gives the whole overview of his subject, before delving into its particular aspects -- cures, or specific forms of melancholy like religious melancholy, or love melancholy.At the same

Inkhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00795106140154787453noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-24450384249128542332008-02-02T18:23:00.000-05:002008-02-02T19:02:55.371-05:00

In a fit of complete madness, I've decided to read Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy. I mean, all of it, not just the 125-page preface to the reader, or perhaps Part One, Section 1, Member 3, Subsection 12, where he deals with the mating habits of ants, or the consistency of milk, or some other particular topic that I'm vastly interested in. All of it. As I said, madness.I'm currently on p

Inkhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00795106140154787453noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-57006557127926332852008-01-31T08:11:00.000-05:002008-01-31T08:14:54.920-05:00

For those of you roaring boys and girls with a soft spot for the history of the book -- and I know you're out there -- take a look at this on youtube ...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQTis the very thing, methinks.

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-26263105392043419272008-01-23T15:57:00.001-05:002008-01-23T16:02:45.510-05:00

Freshest Advices: Our most dedicated Holzknechtian, Wat, sends along the following delightful summary of Beaumont, Fletcher, and Massinger's Love's Cure, which (like all good plays in the "Beaumont and Fletcher canon") contains a nice duel for your amusement. He writes: "I don't have Holzknecht handy, so perhaps it's summarized there as well, but I thought I'd write this up all the same." Since I

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-9036812129443046632008-01-19T15:18:00.001-05:002008-01-24T16:01:56.859-05:00

I'm in the process of cutting down a 45-page chapter into a 12-page SAA paper. Impossible, you say? Perhaps. I'm at 17 1/2 and counting.UPDATE: Down to 14 pages plus a couple little orphaned sentences on page 15. Offloading into footnotes is a nice trick.UPDATE 2: Done! I have no idea whether the thing is any good, but I'm rather proud of my ability to trim. I may have trimmed not only fat but

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-19770291387647784112008-01-19T08:17:00.000-05:002008-01-19T08:26:07.429-05:00

Miserable, raining day here. So here's a non-early modern thing to raise the spirits. Every Friday, the Guardian has a cartoon from the marvellously-titled Perry Bible Fellowship. I think they're brilliant: freaky and weird. There's a web site featuring loads of them: http://pbfcomics.com

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-14277321432741045662008-01-11T22:47:00.000-05:002008-01-11T22:50:44.411-05:00

Not sure if this is the kind of thing one likes... but it was a great relief to me.

Greenwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02281775492712935997noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-15004668844303441372008-01-10T06:02:00.001-05:002008-01-10T06:09:04.202-05:00

Start of term. Chaos. Students everywhere, looking lost. My office an allegory of Chaos. My bicycle blocking the door. Unanswered post. Unanswered emails. Unread Guardians littering the floor like leaves. It's day four. I'm exhausted.

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-14247486743109911122008-01-07T15:55:00.000-05:002008-01-07T16:02:05.992-05:00

No, really, he is.I saw this moment too during the debate, and just about fell off my couch.And, yeah, I went to MLA: I saw (some good papers, some crazy), I spilled (ice cubes on a distinguished Renaissance scholar), I ate (way too much), I drank (not too much, but with people I like a lot). All in all, kind of an ideal MLA, though I still get freaked out by thousands of literature academics

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-51238552612168332602008-01-05T19:10:00.000-05:002008-01-05T19:12:58.996-05:00

On my way to the airport post-MLA, I saw this actual Chicago building from the window of the cab. Naturally I grabbed my cellphone as quickly as possible but sadly the camera application takes a million years to load, and I missed it. Thanks to the magic of Google Image, however, I found this, which accurately recreates my view of the building. Behold! The Continental Paper Grading Company!Man, I

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-49642253729479411792007-12-29T15:33:00.000-05:002007-12-30T00:56:49.984-05:00

Ok, now that I have fully recovered from last night's over-eating and over-drinking, I will see if I can remember what I planned to blog about yesterday. I don't know if it's something about the layout of the Hyatt, which is completely bizarre and confusing, or if there are more people attending this year, but the lobby of the main English hotel seems even more insane than usual. While there seem

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-16102267158382392112007-12-29T01:06:00.000-05:002007-12-29T01:07:05.558-05:00

Had a bit too much to drink at dinner tonight.I had so much to tell you, but it will all have to wait until tomorrow.Sleep.

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-73779753269734297942007-12-28T20:10:00.000-05:002007-12-28T20:28:24.462-05:00

Instead of going to the MLA this year, I appear to have gone directly to the Renaissance – culinarily, at least. I’m in a place (and time) where the eating is right out of Eastcheap. Yes, I’m talking about “puddings,” and about strange meats, and then more strange meats, and more puddings, and generally the richest, heaviest, sauciest food you could possibly imagine. All of which is currently

Inkhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00795106140154787453noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-84333492584968759542007-12-28T11:10:00.000-05:002007-12-28T11:24:24.025-05:00

This was one of my favorite books as a child, but today is not a snowy day to remember fondly through the rose-tinted glasses of childhood nostalgia. In fact, I'm currently sitting in my hotel room afraid to go outside--and not for the usual MLA reason, the desire to avoid the hordes of anxious, wild-eyed interviewees who can make your stomach tie itself in knots as you remember the single most

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-82619570927392166452007-12-13T10:43:00.000-05:002007-12-13T10:45:46.988-05:00

With pictures, lots of pictures.

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-57161052800550479012007-12-09T13:09:00.001-05:002007-12-09T13:11:55.196-05:00

As befits a bleak early December, I’ve been digging through the archives examining early modern burial records. Here are some endings to seventeenth-century lives. George Soveraigne, an owld man, a bagpipe player of no certayne dwellinge, dyed at Ware End and was buried the viijth of Maye One whose name wee knowe nott beinge founde dead in the feilds was buryed the xxith daye of Maye.

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-11266802241794988372007-12-06T23:56:00.001-05:002007-12-07T00:53:42.994-05:00

Seriously, I'm starting to wonder... In the wake of Mitt Romney's speech on faith today in Texas, I trolled around a bit in the sub-basements of the blogosphere and internets, where you can find some serious hostility to Mormonism (or LDS, as they like to be called now). Not from the "religion of secularism" as Romney terms it, of course, but from Protestants, largely from evangelicals. What

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-25864886996376512682007-12-06T22:40:00.000-05:002007-12-06T22:50:21.509-05:00

For those of you who like their history urban and their websites useful, I bring you this link to "People in Place: families, housesholds and housing in early modern London." What do you all think about this kind of thematic online history site? I like the accessibility of the thing, but I worry that the web will inevitably become crowded with them, and over time, as research changes what we

Greenwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02281775492712935997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-16594472224701780302007-12-02T10:56:00.000-05:002007-12-02T11:08:50.700-05:00

This is hilarious, and informative. A compilation of the nine "most badass bible verses" from, of all places, Cracked Magazine--I think I remember reading that on the school bus when I was five years old and thought that Mad Magazine had totally sold out and gone corporate, and Cracked was where the seriously subversive fart jokes were.Here's a verse (with midrashic commentary) that didn't even

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-79979167204049805452007-11-29T10:47:00.000-05:002007-11-29T19:03:28.747-05:00

This summer we had a rather heated discussion of an article by Ron Charles bemoaning the popularity of Harry Potter. In it, he lamented thatwhen their parents do pick up a novel, it's often one that leaves a lot to be desired. True, Oprah Winfrey can turn serious works of fiction such as Jeffrey Eugenides's "Middlesex" or Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" into megasellers. But among the top 20

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-20923046455213229112007-11-28T13:34:00.000-05:002007-11-28T13:56:22.031-05:00

I apologize for the last post: it'd crude, borderline offensive, and witty like Jack Daw is witty. Of course, that was kind of the point: legislation that spells out offensive language is bound to be all those things too; we just don't expect an adverb loophole. More to the point, though, those are all qualities that have been, and continue to be, used to denigrate blogging and bloggers. Real

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-8507797535986149882007-11-27T15:53:00.000-05:002007-11-27T20:47:09.377-05:00

Fun with grammar, via Alterman.The short version: stick with adverbs.According to the language in an amendment to the bill for the "Clean Airwaves Act," it would be against the law to say on tv or radio (or someday the webs?) that you had a nightmare in which you were "fucking Shakespeare," or that you think Richard Brome was probably an "ass hole" (note: two words), or that Jonson was clearly

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-86727781433117499132007-11-12T10:57:00.001-05:002007-11-12T11:18:23.808-05:00

Jon Cogburn has an amusing post on the personality types of irritating professors (or at least for assistant and full professors; there's no category for associate professors). There are about four or five categories that I may fall into, and maybe more than that...alas. I pass it along only so that you can share in my amusement and anxiety.

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-22752706903563822172007-10-29T14:23:00.000-04:002007-10-29T15:10:42.383-04:00

‘To make excellent Inke’, I learn from a 1620s manuscript miscellany, mix ‘2 ounces of Gume Arabick, 2 Ounces of Galls, halfe an ounce of Coparas, & they will make a Gallon of Inke’. I've always been struck by how many recipes there are for ink in early modern manuscripts: they're everywhere, sometimes dozens of them in a single volume, and they seem to have served functions more numerous than

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-38442780492977933372007-10-13T12:13:00.000-04:002007-10-13T19:46:11.856-04:00

First Carter, now Gore. This has nothing to do with the Renaissance, but I thought I'd let you all in on the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize for the next few years:Congratulations to all the future winners!

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-26374324558343208902007-10-11T11:22:00.000-04:002007-10-11T11:27:56.979-04:00

I’ve just come across TextArc. Perhaps you know it. It’s weird and somewhat marvellous and I’ve no real idea how to use it or what it means. The site’s author explains it thus:'A TextArc is a visual represention of a text—the entire text (twice!) on a single page. A funny combination of an index, concordance, and summary; it uses the viewer's eye to help uncover meaning.'Hmm. The basic principle

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-89858187256438497152007-09-28T09:57:00.000-04:002007-09-28T10:09:25.370-04:00

Friday afternoon in the archives. I'm reading a manuscript collection of medical recipes (or 'receipts') from 1638: ‘A Booke of Receits for Diuers uses.' If Michael Moore had taken a look at this, he'd have a very different sense of British attitudes to health. Among other prescriptions, we find: ‘To destroye An Impostume in a daie or A Night’; ‘To draw out A Nayle or Thorne’; ‘An Excellent water

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-44238088830809803622007-09-20T17:06:00.000-04:002007-09-20T17:41:48.526-04:00

A speech that must make it into Hieronimo's work in progress, 1 and 2 George II.In a press conference on Thursday, September 20th, George II was asked this question: Alan Greenspan has come out with a book -- a recent book criticizing you for being fiscally irresponsible. And they're not the first former government officials to come out and be critical of you.And I'm wondering two things.First,

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-10783280564062896372007-09-20T00:41:00.000-04:002007-09-20T01:01:53.614-04:00

Going above and beyond the call of blogging, Spurio, everyone's favorite purveyor of bumbasted legs, has graced us with another entry in our ongoing Holzknecht Redidivus series. This time she has tackled William Hemings's The Fatal Contract, and, yes, if you're wondering, it is that William Hemings, the son of the Shakespeare First Folio editor, John Hemings (or "Heminge" or "Heminges"; William

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-24922980205573503672007-09-16T05:39:00.000-04:002007-09-16T05:54:01.209-04:00

We mused long and hard on this one. Some gems: 'Junior Facultie'; 'The Spanish Inquisition does not torture'; 'And I've complained about pap smears!' I liked 'Paris Hilton's reaction: "That's Hot!"'. But eventually we decided on the slightly puzzling but brilliantly seventeenth-century contribution from Anonymous. So: Anonymous. You have a name?

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-89402333678165212472007-09-16T05:29:00.000-04:002007-09-16T06:01:17.252-04:00

While my co-bloggers are already fully embroiled in teaching, for us over here in Olde Europe, there are still a couple of weeks to go. Locked up here in Castle Bardolph, on the ancient family estate, tapping this out in the east turret as the rain lashes the window and my strange dwarfish butler mixes me another vodka posset, I’m trying all I can to deny this imminent encroachment: in fact, I’m

Bardolphhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10644347033048335870noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-28012147414300895642007-09-08T19:05:00.001-04:002007-09-10T10:47:41.978-04:00

It's been a while since we've had a woodcut contest, and we need something to amuse us while we're still working up the energy for another semester of teaching. So have at it everybody. Here's the grist for your captioning mills.(from STC 15714)

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-50235527235995159052007-09-07T12:41:00.000-04:002007-09-07T13:17:19.595-04:00

Exciting times, these. Gwen Stefani is making clothes. Classes are beginning. I am once again writing blog posts instead of book chapters. But most excitingly of all...New Names.First: We're getting bigger and growing a red nose. We're probably drinking too much, and we're definitely hanging around with a bad element. What does it all mean? We're adding a co-blogger to our ranks. Please

Greenwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02281775492712935997noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-15398029655345153242007-09-06T17:09:00.000-04:002007-09-06T20:18:09.042-04:00

With all the news about Iraq and Larry Craig in the air right now, this headline, "Fashion Opens Week with a Meltdown", is currently hogging the most space atop the NY Times online. The article itself, "Spring Rolls and Arm Candy," is a harsh, harsh review of Gwen Stefani's new clothing line, and according to the reporter Cathy Horyn (I wonder how you pronounce her last name?), it left her

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-59134193064316880252007-08-29T00:19:00.001-04:002007-08-29T09:08:35.405-04:00

Showing dogged determination after I initially, and inadvertently, ignored an earlier submission, Spurio contacted BtR again with this delightful summary of Chapman's The Gentleman Usher. This is yet another play I've never read, but with a hook like "a fine taste of Chapman at his strangest," I assume it'll soon be showing up on graduate reading lists across the world (it's now on my play

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-17897477167429123212007-08-27T10:42:00.000-04:002007-08-27T10:54:34.775-04:00

Today's announcement that Al "Fredo" Gonzales has resigned as Attorney General, thus bringing to a close the tenure of our national consiglieri, prompts me to provide a refresher of our past posts dealing with comparisons between the Bush administration and early modern politics--some fanciful, others more serious genealogies of contemporary politics. I'm also prompted by the fact that, despite

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-85115269682571100122007-08-19T15:06:00.000-04:002007-08-19T15:18:01.160-04:00

Ahh, the Dutch, good for a laugh in 1599, still good for a laugh in 2007.It's also worth noting that the Dutch are the tallest people in the world.

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-19395890435186878412007-08-10T10:34:00.000-04:002007-08-11T09:15:37.617-04:00

I apologize for turning this web blog into Simplicius blogs about random things he finds in Renaissance drama, but this one is too good not to pass along.In the anonymous play, The Tragedy of Nero (London, 1624; rpt. in 1633), there is the following report of a marriage; it might be the most unusual one I've come across in an early modern play. Nero is wooing Poppea, promising her his crown, new

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-26495078293878309872007-08-03T18:02:00.000-04:002007-08-03T18:15:24.029-04:00

If William Davenant read the Ithaka report, here's what he might say:Why do they build us colleges and allow us pensions? To "scribble for no end..."? Ouch, William! Good to know these complaints date back at least four hundred years. (And, yes, I'm sure medievalists could trot out many earlier examples, and they too would surely then be topped by the classicists. But we're blogging the

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-42785442948510216542007-08-01T09:53:00.000-04:002007-08-01T15:49:37.661-04:00

Inside Higher Ed has published a couple of articles in the past week on a recent report prepared by Ithaka, which is described as "a nonprofit group that promotes research and strategy for colleges to reflect changing technology." The report is titled "University Publishing in the Digital Age," and the always smart Scott McLemee says everyone should read it.Its basic conclusion: publication in

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-90379106579992784302007-07-20T17:12:00.000-04:002007-07-20T17:24:03.453-04:00

We here at BtR have never before participated in the venerable tradition of Friday Cat Blogging, but we're going to this week. Ever wonder what it looks like when a cat smiles? Wonder no longer:I should note that this is not a cat I know personally--it's the cat of a friend of a friend of a friend, but more importantly, it's a cat that smiles.Here it is again with a serious expression:Have a

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-84494168328080272672007-07-15T23:39:00.000-04:002007-07-16T00:11:22.521-04:00

Here's yet another lament for the "death of reading," this one opportunistically pegged to the release of the final Harry Potter book. O, someone named Ron Charles, where to start? This philippic is more arrogant and self-satisfied than usual (not only am I a sophisticated smartypants but so is my ten-year-old daughter!), but it has all the same problems.As usual, it's never made clear why we

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-63773199705783951852007-07-13T17:46:00.001-04:002007-07-13T18:05:31.420-04:00

In W. Smith's The Hector of Germany, or, The Palsgrave, Prime Elector (1615), a play primarily concerned with 14th- and 17th-century European politics, there is a comic interlude between an Englishman and a Frenchman. As the two jokers are comparing their respective knowledges of the world, the conversation turns to women and the kissing styles of different nations.Englishman: Now wee are in

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-71911177666921570212007-07-12T09:19:00.000-04:002007-07-12T09:29:15.036-04:00

A quick post in my brief escape from a country village surrounded by heeland coos, called, I believe, Hobbiton.This is the fruit of my research in Gerard's herbal. In the midst of a discussion of the medicinal uses of, I believe, water docks, Gerard stops to defend himself as a mere "country scholler," and not a member of the college of physicians at London; "although there be manie wants and

Inkhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00795106140154787453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-33139582992296732062007-07-10T09:25:00.000-04:002007-07-10T10:02:31.965-04:00

Research in the BL. Sometimes you get nothing, and sometimes you come up with pure gold. During my last visit there, I made a ground-breaking discovery, one which will force us all to reconsider the ways in which we think about the history of humor: they had "Waiter, there's a fly in my drink/soup" jokes in 1641. And back then, they rhymed. This, from the fascinating collection of jests,

Greenwithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02281775492712935997noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-83401293635716451672007-06-27T14:24:00.000-04:002007-06-28T11:21:30.395-04:00

The rich merchant Sir John Frugal is having a hard time of it of late. His wife Lady Frugal spends money recklessly on clothes and food, labors under the delusion that she still looks young, and regularly consults an astrologer about their daughters' future husbands; all in all, she is a typically over ambitious, social-climbing citizen wife. His daughters Anne and Mary are perhaps worse:

Simpliciushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04585391703761889136noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-69260393254505695422007-06-17T15:16:00.000-04:002007-06-20T12:37:53.196-04:00

Welcome to Carnivalesque 28, a very special EEBO edition!You searched on: Subject: language and rhetoricYour search produced 3 hits in 3 recordsTitle: Final RoundAuthor: Gwynn DujardinImprint: JardinièreDate: 10 June 2007Notes: The National Spelling Bee prompts an examination of early modern humanist efforts at spelling reform, which (while doomed to failure) had the paradoxical effect of

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-34562385688164453522007-06-15T13:01:00.000-04:002007-06-15T13:06:51.243-04:00

I'm guessing that Simplicius will append a calculation explaining how, because of calendrical reform, the eccentricity of the moon's orbit around the earth, and continental drift, we should actually have celebrated this three weeks ago Monday, but -- just wanted to send a little shout out to Magna Carta day. Everybody habeas your corpuses while you still can.

Inkhornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00795106140154787453noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-59197568326484864572007-06-11T10:42:00.000-04:002007-06-11T10:44:46.174-04:00

I've just discovered that BtR is cited as a reference for the post on waterboarding in Wikipedia. How cool is that? (Seriously, though: how cool is that? Maybe not at all...)

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-77299327266135354632007-06-11T00:50:00.000-04:002007-06-11T00:49:21.621-04:00

BtR will be hosting Carnivalesque XXVIIJ on June 20. So this is the CFP (call for posts): please email me any and all great posts on early modern history, literature, and culture that you've seen out there on the intertubes in May or June. Feel more than free to nominate your own posts, your friends' posts, your pseudonym's posts ...You can also submit via the web form.Submit... You will submit.

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-90145501243976717532007-06-11T00:34:00.001-04:002007-06-11T00:46:55.181-04:00

The Book Inscriptions Project is a pretty amazing site; it collects digital images of book inscriptions as found art. Like this one:Or this one:Or, most simply, this one:Trolling through this strangely moving website reminded me of Simplicius' wonderful discussion of reading the marginalia in the copy of Keats's Collected Poems that he inherited from one of his favorite college professors, who

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-28934513715640313352007-06-07T13:54:00.001-04:002007-06-07T14:05:18.946-04:00

Continuing my sudden and unexplained interest in university drama (see our currently woefully monologic reading "group" about FS Boas in the sidebar), I'm looking at the Malone Society Collections XIV, an edition of seven Jacobean academic plays contained in two Folger manuscripts, edited by Suzanne Gossett and Tom Berger. There's a manuscript version of Ruff, Band, and Cuff, which appeared in

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-60437167246269484922007-06-04T23:37:00.000-04:002007-06-04T23:48:18.446-04:00

Kevin Drum has a post today on the perennial complaint about the decline in student writing. He wonders if the complaint has any validity:Is this true? Or just a case of old-fartism? I realize this isn't exactly a scientific survey or anything, but I'm curious to know what teachers at various levels think of this. I know plenty of them read the blog, so comment away. Is writing really a lost art?

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-32269508644014638172007-05-28T15:00:00.001-04:002007-05-28T15:07:18.400-04:00

A friend of mine once told me a story of his first few days on a summer job working in a factory. This was a union shop, and my friend was an eager young thing who set hard to show everyone how good a worker he was. After a couple days, one of the union guys took him aside and said paternalistically, "Hey kid, why are you working so hard?" At which point my friend had a revelation: why, indeed,

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657738.post-12105284818806338362007-05-25T10:20:00.000-04:002007-05-25T10:24:00.525-04:00

It looks like Hamlet was right about special providence:Or maybe Macbeth is more appropriate?Thou seest, the heavens, as troubled with man's act,Threaten his bloody stage ...'Tis unnatural,Even like the deed that's done.

Hieronimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03809218002707778629noreply@blogger.com5