Full Article Text
Home |Register |Sign In
Home
Top Picks: All Books
Naming Thy Name
Naming Thy Name
Cross Talk in Shakespeare's Sonnets
by Elaine Scarry
Price: $27.00 (Hardcover)
MorePublished: November 29, 2016
Rating: 0.0/ 5 (0 votes cast)
From the Publisher: A fascinating case for the identity of Shakespeare's
beautiful young man SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS ARE indisputably the most
enigmatic and enduring love poems written in English. They also may bethe most often argued-over sequence of love poems in any language. Butwhat is it that continues to elude us? While it is in part the spellbindingincantations, the hide-and-seek of sound and meaning, it is also the
mystery of the noble youth to whom Shakespeare makes a promise -- the
promise that the youth will survive in the breath and speech and minds ofall those who read these sonnets. "How can such promises be fulfilled if noname is actually given?" Elaine Scarry asks. This book is the answer.Naming Thy Name lays bare William Shakespeare's devotion to a beloved
whom he not only names but names repeatedly in the microtexture of the
sonnets, in their…
Rate This Book
Add To Wishlist
|Rate/Review Add To Bookshelf
Get This Book
Personalize / Add More ChoicesGo to your preferred retailer, click to choose a format and you' ll be taken directly to their site where
you can get this book.
What We Say
Elaine Scarry is a serious scholar; I know this because she has published several acclaimed scholarly books and she is the
Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard. But I also know she is a serious scholar becauseher new book is called "Naming Thy Name: Cross Talk In Shakespeare's Sonnets" rather than, say "Shakespeare's Secret Gay
Love"! It's perhaps the only time this work shows restraint for it is breathtakingly audacious in its scope. Scarry identifies
the beautiful young man Shakespeare famously praises in his series of sonnets -- it is Henry Constable, the poet and courtierand emissary and Catholic proselytizer so beloved by his contemporaries and not one, not two, but three royal personages inthree countries. Yet Scarry is just beginning. She also identifies James I as the Rival Poet for Constable's affections,Share This Book
About The Author
Elaine Scarry
Elaine Scarry, a professor of English and
American literature at Harvard University, is
the author of The Body in Pain. She lives in
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Release Info
List Price: $27.00 (Hardcover)
Published: November 29, 2016
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Pages: 304
ISBN 10: 0374279934
ISBN 13: 9780374279936
suggests (less firmly) that Constable is the mysterious lodger who Shakespeare uncharacteristically ensconced in a lavish
London home and who was by his side at the Bard's death and signed his will. Oh and she attributes an anonymous poem
about Constable to Shakespeare for good measure. The last alone would be mightily bold and make one's career if a scholarsucceeded in convincing others. But Scarry does it all, combining a close textual reading of the sonnets as well as poems byConstable (and James I), along with details of their lives, the imagery used in the printing of those poems, the dates theywere written or circulated, the biographies of their lives (Constable's is rather better documented), Church records about
aliases used by Catholics traveling in secret and much more. Shakespeare spells out Constable's full name in his poems,
which is no shock. The letters are so common it might happen once in 50 times by accident. But Shakespeare announcesflatly he is naming his beloved right before doing so. And Constable spells out Shakespeare's name and makes plays upon itrepeatedly. This is just the beginning of her multi-layered argument. Each piece of evidence on its own ranges from
interesting to very interesting to a bit of a reach (which Scarry readily acknowledges). But the evidence is bounteous and
each piece reinforces the other until her argument seems awfully sturdy indeed. Taken as a whole, it illuminates andexplains a great deal. We see the poets conversing openly with one another through their art. Particular lines that seem oddor jarring suddenly make perfect sense. Mysterious references or contexts for a particular sonnet become obvious, and onand on. Alas, this is not a sexy tale of stolen kisses or gay revelation for a casual reader interested in learning more about
Shakespeare and his times. It is indeed a work of serious scholarship. For all that, it is a very accessible work of serious
scholarship that this layman with little grounding in even the sonnets felt pulled into and absorbed by. Shakespeare's passionfor the beautiful young man is explicitly pronounced for all the world to see and it is this young man he promises toimmortalize (not the dark lady that occupies fewer sonnets and with whom the beautiful young man also dallied). And yet,
despite his repeated desire in one of the most famous cycles of poetry in all of history, the simple idea that Shakespeare
meant what he said, that Shakespeare was in love and it was the love that dare not speak its name (except in code)escaped the minds of scholars. Open to the possibility, Scarry can suddenly connect the dots and they are so numerous andclearly aligned that once they are connected it allows the sonnets to make sense in every way, to reveal their beauty, toresolve their modest confusion and be appreciated all the more. -- Michael Giltz
What Others Say
"Scarry . . . poses a surprising answer to a question that has puzzled readers of Shakespeareâs sonnets for 400
years [about] the âlovely boy" of the poems. . . .She also makes a fresh suggestion identifying the ârival poetâ ofShakespeareâs sonnets . . . Scarryâs conclusions . . . invite a close reading of the sonnets and a pure enjoymentof the metaphorical power and linguistic intricacy of each line." â Publishers Weekly
âNaming thy Name is a beautiful book. It is a love story: of the love between William Shakespeare and Henry
Constable, and of another writerâs true love for that love. There has been no book that has so thoroughlyexplored the practice of poetic conversation among the sonneteers of the English Renaissance. And there hasbeen no book, at least since Oscar Wildeâs Portrait of Mr. W. H. , that has been so passionate in pursuit of a
theory, a theory of the love behind all Shakespeareâs other loves. Scarry has given us the latest, bravest answer
to a question no reader of the sonnets can fail to ask.ââJeff Dolven
âI picked up Naming thy Name and, as they say in Dublin, I couldnât leave it down. I expected brilliance, having
read…
More
What You Say
Filter by
No Reviews Found .....
about us |faq|advertise |privacy policy |newsletter |contact us ©2018, BookBuddha LLc. All Rights Reserved.
Home
Top Picks: All Books
Naming Thy Name
Naming Thy Name
Cross Talk in Shakespeare's Sonnets
by Elaine Scarry
Price: $27.00 (Hardcover)
MorePublished: November 29, 2016
Rating: 0.0/ 5 (0 votes cast)
From the Publisher: A fascinating case for the identity of Shakespeare's
beautiful young man SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS ARE indisputably the most
enigmatic and enduring love poems written in English. They also may bethe most often argued-over sequence of love poems in any language. Butwhat is it that continues to elude us? While it is in part the spellbindingincantations, the hide-and-seek of sound and meaning, it is also the
mystery of the noble youth to whom Shakespeare makes a promise -- the
promise that the youth will survive in the breath and speech and minds ofall those who read these sonnets. "How can such promises be fulfilled if noname is actually given?" Elaine Scarry asks. This book is the answer.Naming Thy Name lays bare William Shakespeare's devotion to a beloved
whom he not only names but names repeatedly in the microtexture of the
sonnets, in their…
Rate This Book
Add To Wishlist
|Rate/Review Add To Bookshelf
Get This Book
Personalize / Add More ChoicesGo to your preferred retailer, click to choose a format and you' ll be taken directly to their site where
you can get this book.
What We Say
Elaine Scarry is a serious scholar; I know this because she has published several acclaimed scholarly books and she is the
Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard. But I also know she is a serious scholar becauseher new book is called "Naming Thy Name: Cross Talk In Shakespeare's Sonnets" rather than, say "Shakespeare's Secret Gay
Love"! It's perhaps the only time this work shows restraint for it is breathtakingly audacious in its scope. Scarry identifies
the beautiful young man Shakespeare famously praises in his series of sonnets -- it is Henry Constable, the poet and courtierand emissary and Catholic proselytizer so beloved by his contemporaries and not one, not two, but three royal personages inthree countries. Yet Scarry is just beginning. She also identifies James I as the Rival Poet for Constable's affections,Share This Book
About The Author
Elaine Scarry
Elaine Scarry, a professor of English and
American literature at Harvard University, is
the author of The Body in Pain. She lives in
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Release Info
List Price: $27.00 (Hardcover)
Published: November 29, 2016
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Pages: 304
ISBN 10: 0374279934
ISBN 13: 9780374279936
suggests (less firmly) that Constable is the mysterious lodger who Shakespeare uncharacteristically ensconced in a lavish
London home and who was by his side at the Bard's death and signed his will. Oh and she attributes an anonymous poem
about Constable to Shakespeare for good measure. The last alone would be mightily bold and make one's career if a scholarsucceeded in convincing others. But Scarry does it all, combining a close textual reading of the sonnets as well as poems byConstable (and James I), along with details of their lives, the imagery used in the printing of those poems, the dates theywere written or circulated, the biographies of their lives (Constable's is rather better documented), Church records about
aliases used by Catholics traveling in secret and much more. Shakespeare spells out Constable's full name in his poems,
which is no shock. The letters are so common it might happen once in 50 times by accident. But Shakespeare announcesflatly he is naming his beloved right before doing so. And Constable spells out Shakespeare's name and makes plays upon itrepeatedly. This is just the beginning of her multi-layered argument. Each piece of evidence on its own ranges from
interesting to very interesting to a bit of a reach (which Scarry readily acknowledges). But the evidence is bounteous and
each piece reinforces the other until her argument seems awfully sturdy indeed. Taken as a whole, it illuminates andexplains a great deal. We see the poets conversing openly with one another through their art. Particular lines that seem oddor jarring suddenly make perfect sense. Mysterious references or contexts for a particular sonnet become obvious, and onand on. Alas, this is not a sexy tale of stolen kisses or gay revelation for a casual reader interested in learning more about
Shakespeare and his times. It is indeed a work of serious scholarship. For all that, it is a very accessible work of serious
scholarship that this layman with little grounding in even the sonnets felt pulled into and absorbed by. Shakespeare's passionfor the beautiful young man is explicitly pronounced for all the world to see and it is this young man he promises toimmortalize (not the dark lady that occupies fewer sonnets and with whom the beautiful young man also dallied). And yet,
despite his repeated desire in one of the most famous cycles of poetry in all of history, the simple idea that Shakespeare
meant what he said, that Shakespeare was in love and it was the love that dare not speak its name (except in code)escaped the minds of scholars. Open to the possibility, Scarry can suddenly connect the dots and they are so numerous andclearly aligned that once they are connected it allows the sonnets to make sense in every way, to reveal their beauty, toresolve their modest confusion and be appreciated all the more. -- Michael Giltz
What Others Say
"Scarry . . . poses a surprising answer to a question that has puzzled readers of Shakespeareâs sonnets for 400
years [about] the âlovely boy" of the poems. . . .She also makes a fresh suggestion identifying the ârival poetâ ofShakespeareâs sonnets . . . Scarryâs conclusions . . . invite a close reading of the sonnets and a pure enjoymentof the metaphorical power and linguistic intricacy of each line." â Publishers Weekly
âNaming thy Name is a beautiful book. It is a love story: of the love between William Shakespeare and Henry
Constable, and of another writerâs true love for that love. There has been no book that has so thoroughlyexplored the practice of poetic conversation among the sonneteers of the English Renaissance. And there hasbeen no book, at least since Oscar Wildeâs Portrait of Mr. W. H. , that has been so passionate in pursuit of a
theory, a theory of the love behind all Shakespeareâs other loves. Scarry has given us the latest, bravest answer
to a question no reader of the sonnets can fail to ask.ââJeff Dolven
âI picked up Naming thy Name and, as they say in Dublin, I couldnât leave it down. I expected brilliance, having
read…
More
What You Say
Filter by
No Reviews Found .....
about us |faq|advertise |privacy policy |newsletter |contact us ©2018, BookBuddha LLc. All Rights Reserved.