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Dewey Decimal Number: 820.9008 EAN: 9780807818824 ISBN: 0807818828 Label: University of North Carolina Press Manufacturer: University of North Carolina Press Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 276 Publication Date: 1990-05 Publisher: University of North Carolina Press Studio: University of North Carolina Press Editorial Review: Product Description: Beginning with Tennyson's In Memoriam and continuing by way of Hopkins and Swinburne to the novels of Oscar Wilde and Thomas Hardy, Richard Dellamora draws on journals, letters, censored texts, and pornography to examine the cultural construction of masculinity in Victorian literature. Central to the struggle over the meaning of masculine desire was the institutional politics of Oxford University, where Benjamin Jowett, Matthew Arnold, John Ruskin, and Walter Pater were principal players. As a young man in the 1860s, Pater, the art historian, essayist, and novelist, theorized a place for desire between men in cultural formation and critique. Later, in a climate of growing intolerance, he continued to affirm male-male desire but with increasing attention to the social functions of homophobia. Dellamora shows that discontent with conventional gender roles animated efforts to reimagine the possibilities of masculine existence. Related Items:     see moreAverage Rating:
 Rating: - Speak..and Enlighten...Sexual AND Academic Victorian Modes..This is an incredibly insightful, well argued, and superbly interesting study of male desire and its effects on Victorian culture. A major part of the focus of this study concerns the interacting awarenesses, defenses, attacks, and deflections of male same-sex attraction AND desire, and the various responses to those two factors in relation to the classical Greek writings and art as they influenced the thoughts and creativity of Victorian male lives, especially in the academic centers of Cambridge and Oxford Universities. This study is very readable, even though the first paragraph of the "Introduction" sounds too "academic," the rest of the Introduction explains the focus. The author of this work, Richard Dellamora, is working with or against various ideas expressed in the writings of Michel Foucault [History of Sex: Vol. 1 An Introduction; Vol. _The Use of Pleasure_], Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick [_Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire_], Elaine Showalter [_The Female Malady: Women, Madness, and English Culture, 1830-1980_; _A Literature of Their Own_]and other writers on sexuality and gender, dealing with the Victorian period. But this is no "he says; she says..." study. It is truly a remarkable and incredibly insightful and interesting, well focused and clearly presented work. It is a very important source of knowledge and study in its own right--this author has well studied and knows the people, their works, and the issues and arguments involved. He clearly and inspiringly explains the meanings of the works, their major ideas, and the counter ideas, and where each is focused in its arguments. But the work is not dry reading. Dellamora deals with male desire as it is expressed in the works of both those male writers whose affections and interests are focused on the male exclusively, as well as with those males who have sought the expression of their life association and sexuality with women,but who have nonetheless been aware of, been participants in, and been celebrators of profound male bonding desire, even if not of a sexual nature. Indeed, Dellamora's main argument is that the history of the presentation of male desire in the 19th century English cultural context transcends the limitation imposed by the idea that only "homosexuals" would be aware of, feel, or desire such male oriented caring. That idea breaks the stereotype and opens up (liberates) the cultural strictures and impositions that sadly still dominate willingness to talk of male desire and sexuality in some academic writings, especially in the United States. Mr. Dellamora is professor of English and Cultural Studies at Trent University in Ontario [according to the back cover]. The chapter titles help to show the range and excellent areas of analysis by the author, who knows and uses the writings, letters, and sources extremely well. The titles are: Introduction-Masculine Desire and the Question of the Subject; (1) Tennyson, the Apostles, and _In Memoriam_; (2) "Spousal Love" in the Poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins; (3) [Walter]Pater at Oxford in 1864--Old Mortality and "Diaphaneite"; (4) Poetic Perversities of A. C. Swinburne; Excursus--Hopkins, Swinburne, and the Whitmanian Signifier; (5) [Matthew]Arnold, Winckelmann, and [Walter] Pater; (6) John Ruskin and the Character of Male Genius; (7) Leonardo, Medusa, and the Wish to be Woman; (8) "The New Chivalry" and Oxford Politics (the contest to elect a new Professor of Poetry at Oxford; the influences of Walter Pater, John Addington Symonds, and Jowett); 9)Theorizing Homophobia--Analysis of Myth in Pater; (10) Homosexual Scandal and Compulsory Heterosexuality in the 1890s; Afterword--The Subject of Sexual (In)difference. The Bibliography at the back of this book is exceptional, interesting, and informative (in terms of future sources that one might wish to consult or purchase for one's own use). It is filled with both essay and book entries, but all of a highly intellectual and culturally stimulating kind. Dellamora presents here a thorough, well studied, well analyzed, and totally enlightening work. It is well worth the purchase by any reader interested in the subjects of male desire, cultural impact, and artistic expression. His exceptional gift in this work is to use letters and journals to show the range of feelings and expressions -- the letters between Arthur Hallam to Richard Milnes and the expressions between Tennyson and Hallam are incredibly interesting (as well as being something one would not be able to easily access from other sources). The other personages inovlved in the Apostles and their interests and expressions and doings provide great insight also in understanding more fully the context of the cultural and personal interactions that were going on at both Cambridge and Oxford in the 1800s. [Byron and Tennyson attended Cambridge; Pater, Hopkins (tutored by Pater), Symonds, Ruskin, and Wilde attended Oxford.] Notice: Dellamora uses the words which the writers of the works and the letters use -- both Latinate and common. The words have both to do with bodily parts and sexual acts, so the general reader should be aware. But none of this is presented in a sensationalist fashion, rather as an enlightening insight into the thoughts and ideas that motivated, influenced, and found expression (or repression) in the lives of the experiencers. This is NOT a book about sex or about sex acts -- it is about ideas and desires and their influences on personal motivations, strivings, and artistic expressions. |
In the previous The Curse of the Black Pearl, Sparrow was killed--sent to Davy Jones' Locker. In the opening scenes, the viewer sees that death has not been kind to Sparrow--but that's not to say he hasn't found endless ways to amuse himself, cavorting with dozens of hallucinated versions of himself on the deck of the Black Pearl. But Sparrow is needed in this world, so a daring rescue brings him back. Keith Richards' much ballyhooed appearance as Jack's dad is little more than a cameo, though he does play a wistful guitar. But the action, as always, is more than satisfying, held together by Depp, who, outsmarting the far-better-armed British yet again, causes a bewigged commander to muse: "Do you think he plans it all out, or just makes it up as he goes along?" As far as fans are concerned, it matters not. --A.T. Hurley
On the DVD
Here's something you can't say about just any DVD extras: There appears to be more of Keith Richards in the outtakes, interviews, and other special features on the At World's End disc than in the actual film. For those scenes alone, this special edition is well worth the price. Richards looks as woozy and gamey as all the rumors suggested, and answers questions he's not asked, with Johnny Depp sitting next to him, almost acting as a translator. Richards offers pithy comments like, "Everything I do is original, you better believe," and smiles when other cast members call him "Two-Take Richards" for supposedly nailing his scenes.
The packed second disc also includes a terrific mini-doc on how the filmmakers created the famous maelstrom, in an enormous hanger in Palmdale, California, with the ships floating 30 feet off the ground. "Just moving the Black Pearl was an enormous undertaking," says producer Jerry Bruckheimer with serious understatement. Other cool extras include "Tale of the Many Jacks," deleted scenes with great commentary, "The World of Chow Yun-Fat," a bio of composer Hans Zimmer, features on the set designers, a look at the impressive Brethren Court, and some hilarious bloopers. "You can't curse in a Disney film," deadpans Depp when a costar blurts out something blue. "See? I told him." The extras are truly as much of a rollicking adventure as the film. --A.T. Hurley
Beyond Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
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In the previous Dead Man's Chest, Sparrow was killed--sent to Davy Jones' Locker. In the opening scenes, the viewer sees that death has not been kind to Sparrow--but that's not to say he hasn't found endless ways to amuse himself, cavorting with dozens of hallucinated versions of himself on the deck of the Black Pearl. But Sparrow is needed in this world, so a daring rescue brings him back. Keith Richards' much ballyhooed appearance as Jack's dad is little more than a cameo, though he does play a wistful guitar. But the action, as always, is more than satisfying, held together by Depp, who, outsmarting the far-better-armed British yet again, causes a bewigged commander to muse: "Do you think he plans it all out, or just makes it up as he goes along?" As far as fans are concerned, it matters not. --A.T. Hurley
In the previous Dead Man's Chest, Sparrow was killed--sent to Davy Jones' Locker. In the opening scenes, the viewer sees that death has not been kind to Sparrow--but that's not to say he hasn't found endless ways to amuse himself, cavorting with dozens of hallucinated versions of himself on the deck of the Black Pearl. But Sparrow is needed in this world, so a daring rescue brings him back. Keith Richards' much ballyhooed appearance as Jack's dad is little more than a cameo, though he does play a wistful guitar. But the action, as always, is more than satisfying, held together by Depp, who, outsmarting the far-better-armed British yet again, causes a bewigged commander to muse: "Do you think he plans it all out, or just makes it up as he goes along?" As far as fans are concerned, it matters not. --A.T. Hurley
