Performing Lives, 1485-1558

Session Coordinator: Antony J. Hasler
Dept. of English, Saint Louis University
3800 Lindell Boulevard, P.O. Box 56907
St. Louis, MO 63156-0907
hasleraj@slu.edu

Body Imagery and its Implications in Middle Scots Flytings

Flyting, as it manifested itself in the Middle Scots period, is both part of a well established tradition of satire and abusive verse, and an art form peculiar to its historical context. A close examination of the works of Dunbar, Kennedie, Skelton, and Montgomery suggests that these contests in verse are more than simple exchanges of invective, good natured or otherwise. Their emphasis on body imagery, particularly the loss of control and the deterioration of the body imply that these works may be expressions of deep seated personal and cultural anxieties related to the formation and maintenance of representations of the self in a culture undergoing institutional transformation. This paper looks closely at several examples of flytings from the period and speculates on what their scurrility reveals about the poets and the period.

Tim Moylan
Saint Louis University
moylantp@slu.edu

Privy History: Reading the King's (and Cardinal's) Two Bodies in Cavendish's Life of Wolsey and More's Richard III

This paper examines the use of physical detail in George Cavendish's Life and Death of Cardinal Wolsey and Thomas More's History of Richard III. In both texts, the bodily presence of the central figure becomes vital to the authors' constructions of kingship and of history. Cavendish's use of extensive physical detail is the foundation for his own authority: since in the text Wolsey is inextricably identified with this material presence -- including the vast household staff of which Cavendish was a member -- Cavendish derives his ability to convey what he sees as truth from his own status as part of his subject's materiality. On the other hand, More makes Richard III's deformity a locus of anxieties about both government and historiography, through his interest on the interpretation of the body both by other characters (and Richard's efforts to control these readings, with varying success) and by author and reader. While Cavendish uses physical detail to lend weight to his abstract generalizations, More's treatment of Richard's deformity exists largely in the realm of symbolism, as the physical presence of the central character derives its meaning from the text's status as humanist political discourse.

Lea Luecking Frost
Saint Louis University
frostll@slu.edu

Stairway to Heaven: The Polyphonic Structure of The Examinations of Anne Askewe

This paper explores the relationship between text and gloss in John Bale’s edition of Anne Askewe’s Examinations. Criticism to this point has viewed Bale’s commentary in a negative light, arguing that he appropriates Askewe’s testimony, shaping the narrative in ways that stifle her feminine voice, thus tempering a potential threat to his assumption of authority. However, reading the text in its historical context – writing produced by a Protestant about to be martyred for her beliefs – allows for a different construction. The limits placed on Askewe derive not from Bale’s editorial choices, but from her own acceptance of biblical injunctions against women discussing scripture in public. Bale’s role in the text is determined by Askewe’s writing; he fleshes out her arguments, echoes her tone, and shapes her narrative into a pointedly anti-Catholic text, in which Askewe typifies a Protestant martyr and saint.

Elizabeth Human
Saint Louis University
humanem@slu.edu