The Foodstuff of Dreams

Ever had a dream that you ate a delicious meal, and then you woke up starving? What about a dream that you had to pee but couldn't find a bathroom? Let me reassure you that these dreams are part of the universal human experience.

King Of Kings: The CEO

In today’s American society the closest thing we have to a king would be the CEO. He is a private individual, with extraordinary power, money, and influence. His decisions determine the daily lives of those around him and those very far away. He is on top of the social pyramid and delegates decisions to others in order to manage his business. I see here a connection to the old Renaissance under the theme of Sprezzatura or Courting Culture. Sarah Carpenter in her online piece The Sixteenth Century wrote of a particular party that King Henry VIII put on “The actual festivities did not simply accompany or celebrate a political event but were recognised as politically significant in themselves. The Milanese ambassador, who wrote home explaining the various European implications of the treaty, carefully pointed out in letters to his lord and to colleagues that: the festivities and triumphs and the sumpteous apparatus with which this most powerful king has entertained the French ambassadors has surpassed all the splendours of modern or ancient kings.”

            During that time it was a political show of force to be a good host and to achieve honors. The Court system of the day was a very complicated one. How I like to think about it is a comparison of our own day and time. When business dealings are done internationally, its good manners for the representatives of the company to recognize and respect the cultural and spiritual traditions of the country to which they are visiting and to adhere to their standards of conducting business. In our own college books we have tips on how we could better represent ourselves and the company by exercising proper preparation and research in order for the business visit to be a success. All this is a “court system” that is practiced by American corporations and companies in order to gain favor and conduct business.

            One does not need to read very much about the courting practices of the Renaissance to see there was a good deal of lavish spending on what most would consider a genuine waste. However, when the rules of the game have been laid out in a political landscape you need to play the game well. My only question is do we today need to follow in the lavish footsteps of our ancestors? Or do we show the world a new way to conduct our affairs?

Works Cited

Carpenter, Sarah. "The Sixteenth Century Court Audience: Performers and Spectators." Sarah Carpenter. Http://web.archive.org, n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.

Queen Elizabeth I: The Original Queen of Hearts

Queen Elizabeth I is commonly lauded for her shrewd politics as well as for bringing about England's golden age. Her savvy moves get attributed to her extensive education and her powerful use of rhetoric, but I had failed to consider how her manipulation of court culture truly solidified her role as a powerful ruler during the Renaissance. 

Court culture prior to Elizabeth was already intricate, flamboyant, and filled with courtiers taking on characters and dramatic roles as a form of theater/art. However, when Elizabeth entered the scene, the plot of the court structure changed to one where Elizabeth placed herself as the lovely maiden at the center of every courtier's wooing. The Elizabethan court became the act of literally courting Elizabeth, to no avail of course. 

Upon searching the meaning of the word sprezzatura I learned that it meant to do something so well and non-chalantly it seems effortless. This is exactly how Elizabeth managed to gain the loyalty and love of the many men who should've seen her as a liability to England, but instead praised her. By effortlessly placing herself as not only face of England, but also at the center of art (a muse of sorts) she became an emblem the court aspired to please (Cooper). I imagine this as something like a combination of propaganda and networking. Elizabeth promoted herself as a Queen who deserved to be courted—because someone could be the lucky man who ruled by her as King—all while creating alliances, loyalties, and connections with influential artists and nobility. She truly was the original Queen of Hearts. 

Works Cited:

Cooper, Tarnya. "Queen Elizabeth's Public Face." History Today 53.5 (2003): 38. Points of View

       Reference Center. Web. 22 Sept. 2015.

Hope for Humanity

When I first enrolled in the class, I was expecting new techniques of pedagogy, some digital components of coursework and a project-based structure--but I never expected a non-structured, seemingly non-focused curriculum, the daily panic-attack of a surprise homework load and the inability to plan ahead due to the non-presence of any syllabus at all. "I should drop it," I remember thinking, "I can't handle this in my last semester of school--and my first semester married--and my first semester working--and the semester when I'm in a hardcore capstone class." I stayed, because I've seen the potential for creativity in learning fluidly, with group members, in projects, and in a new medium--and I've seen the results without such encouragement... 

I made this myself. All rights out the window. 
Also, I just noticed this zombie could be in the middle of the Thriller dance. 

My mom just wrote a post for her parenting blog reflecting on her experience with pedagogy in home school with my little brother. She was amazed at the change she's seen as he's been allowed and encouraged to direct his own learning and become invested in that process: "In the past year, our Zombie child morphed into a more self-directed teenager with greater confidence in his own talent and abilities—a transformation nearly as incredible as that in the movie [Warm Bodies]!" She claims that several aspects of public schooling are "Zombie Makers," including low sleep, high stress, inefficient, focused-on-the-squeaky-wheel/overburdened teachers and, especially, a one-size-fits-all curriculum. You can read more of her essay on education-created zombie teens here. 

Albert Einstein quothe: "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its
ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life thinking it's stupid."

Humanism in the English Renaissance was intensely concerned with returning to classic education techniques, which, if followed together, would enable humanity like never before in history (except of course ancient Greece, haha), and create the perfect "Renaissance Man," able to speak, write, reason and make clever conversation. Erasmus of Rotterdam said famously, "It is the chiefest point of happiness that a man is willing to be what he is," but the next happiness, of course, was extending the mental and logical facilities of man to make him, as Hamlet says in Shakespeare's play, a "piece of work:"
What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how
infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and
admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like
a god! the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals...

Hamlet ends his speech, as usual, vacillating between opinions, "—and yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?" but the vantage point of humanism is already established. The potentiality of man, enabled through education and speech/writing training, was almost limitless. In Erasmus's treatise on rhetorical strategies entitled de Copia, he comes up with 100+ variations on just one, boring sentence: "Your letter pleased me greatly."  To see some, click here.

What does this have to do with zombies? The emphasis of humanism was on the potential of human creativity, and through its course, our class has taken a necessary pulse in that vein of thought in order to arrive where we are now: not passified, individually grade-grubbing zombies, but an enlightened (if still amateur) team of Renaissance men and women (Sprezzatura), seeking out (Brave New Worlds) sources and ideas from previous centuries (ad fontes) and repackaging, refreshing and revitalizing (Humanism) them through our new media (Typographia), relying on our faith in God (Ploughboys and Bibles) and in each other (Humanism again!) as we go.


I found myself praying for unity and a sense of purpose, along with the strength to just carry on. 

It was partially a primary text and partially an assignment that answered my prayer, I feel, and changed my experience of the course--a video introduction of Michel Montaigne's Of Cannibals. In re-vamping the situation but retaining the original themes of the piece, I found new inspiration in the Renaissance artist and writer's take on previous centuries. It was exhilarating to find that with a webcam, , dark eye shadow, creativity and a little ketchup, I could do it, too--I could excite and inspire and amuse with the rest of youtube (the modern printing press, making public and simple what had previously been elite and closed to amateurs). The results of the class's video debuts launched us into a whole new aspect of pedagogy: getting the information to the masses in formats they were comfortable with (as in Plough Boys and Bibles) and working fluidly, in teams and as a class, as we did so (just like courtiers).


Though at the beginning of the semester I was ignorant about Erasmus or humanism's claims, I did recognize the stagnant signs of zombi-fied learning in myself. I don't think such drastic measures as we took are necessary to avoid the zombie'd student--and indeed, at the beginning, I found myself slipping into a stupified, anxious sphere from the inability to plan homework assignments ahead of time--but when I started really getting to know my teammates and trusting their creativity, I felt a change in the spirit of learning that enabled real scholarship ...in the form of puppet shows. Go figure, huh?

Sprezzatura Avatar

She is a master of conversation and is wickedly witty. Always dressed in the latest fashions, she has droves of handsome courtier suitors. She's best friends with the queen, and she writes poetry for fun. She likes to stroll through gardens and has a secret passion for men who fence. She is well versed in the sonnets of the day, and she's a professional swooner. 

Meet Lady Annabelle, sprezzatura Avatar.

I was  going to paint some others, but it didn't happen. I wanted to paint a pirate (of sorts) for Brave New Worlds, and maybe an ancient school teacher, too. Thomas Wilson style!

The Triangular Conversation

So, in terms of story-telling, it's often best to have a three-prong angle of attack on an issue.  There's the villain trying to do something, the hero trying to stop the villain, and a third person--the hero's boss, the hero's love interest, the hero's servant, the villain's servant, the hero's friend, whatever--that has a different perspective on things.

I subsequently wanted to create a group of three interesting and amusing characters who would have different stances, opinions, and knowledge of my two themes:  Brave New World and Sprezzatura.

And here they are:

It took me maybe twenty minutes to draw these figures, and manipulating them to give different expressions or movement isn't tremendously difficult. 

What I was thinking was that we could write up some short scripts and record them, and then layer the audio over a series of images of these characters.  That's REALLY easy to do in programs such as iMovie. 

Princess Leia is an aristocrat, technically, but she is rather indifferent to her position and upbringing.  However, she very strongly believes in girl-power, and she's good at practically every skill she picks up--shooting, speeder driving, rhetoric, espionage, and so forth. 

Aang is a kid who is supposed to save the world.  Plus, avatar joke.  He doesn't know very much about very much, so he gets to ask a lot of questions for the audience's benefit. 

Smiley McGee is a hardcore nobleman who embodies sprezzatura, but has some retrogressive views that clash with Leia's feminist stance.

The Art of Leadership: Ruling through Reason

Well, let's see if we can get this to work via the campus Internet.  My apartment's web service decided to take a break this fine morning. 

The scene from 3:09 to 4:40 is among my favorites of Julie Taymor's interpretation of The Tempest.  One of the critical moments in the play, it shows Prospera reigning in her passion and making decisions based on reason.  She has her enemies caught in feverish visions of terror.  Yet despite the wrongs done her by these men--exiling her and shipping her and her daughter away on a leaky boat to face unknown hardship--she must control her emotions and make the reasonable, compassionate, merciful choice.  This is very much in line with the decisions faced by the nobility of the time.  They could not rule through force, but through compassion and logic.

Proposed Activities:

--Have the student read Act I and look for other instances of passion vs reason.
--Have the student read Act II and explore the ideas presented about leadership and power over others.
--Compare and contrast Prospero's emotional control with Trinculo, Stephano, and Caliban.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Who Wears What and Why does it Matter?

Throughout the past 400 years, The Tempest has been performed by many companies. Each of the different companies and groups that performed The Tempest have taken their own interpretations of how the players should be dressed. Traditionally, Propsero is dressed regally, his robes are a symbol of his power. In some versions, Prospero is cast as a woman named Prospera. And of course, she dresses accordingly.



While browsing Youtube I discovered versions in which Miranda is dressed in pants; living on an island with only her father for company apparently makes the dress code a little more relaxed.





Why does this matter? What significance do the clothes make in the interpretation of the play? Do the clothes make the man? It would be worth it to consider what Miranda says:

"There's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple. If the ill spirit have so fair a house,. Good things will strive to dwell with 't."

Sprezzatura + Brave New World Idea and The Tempest

This is an idea for Sprezzatura, actually ---> I don't know if you've already found something, but I thought this clip might work. It really deals with Miranda's, erm, artlessness. She's definitely NOT a courtier. 

This clip where Caliban plays the traitor and pledges allegiance to Stephano brings up issues in Brave New World about colonization and the state of nature in these wild natives. The drunken monster has been wooed by firewater, and thus is an important commentary on the colonization going on in the Renaissance. 

The Brave (re)New(ed) Project

Some people write until they stumble across a good idea. Our Renaissance literature class just talks until we "stumble" upon a fantastic idea. 

All semester we've been talking about how we can avoid falling into the remake-the-Norton-Anthology-in-digital-form rut. The reason for making an eBook was to help us venture into the brave new world of technology, eBooks specifically. And up until our last class meeting, I was a little worried about where our project was going (or not going, if you know what I mean). 

But I think we've got things sorted out. It looks like we've decided to create a tiered curriculum that we can share. And let me tell you, I'm excited. I was concerned before that our eBook would get lost in the bottomless hole of literary criticism. I didn't want it to be another one of those books.

We're going to be incorporating video into our curriculum in an attempt to interest various audiences. I'm excited about the things we can do with video in both my groups. In my Ad Fontes group I was thinking maybe some interviews with authors, or for the Sprezzatura group we could have some friendly court discussions.

Whatever ensues, I'm excited. I feel like I'm finally excited about our project. I'm ready to enter this brave new world. 

Hopefully I'll learn something. Hopefully. :)

End-Product of Our Class

So, I am really sorry for missing class yesterday.  I was feeling rather under the weather.

Having downloaded the recording of the class discussion and listened to it on iTunes (how great is modern technology?), I have to say that I'm excited by the idea of a major, multi-media collaborative project.  I'm still terrified of the idea of having to make another video, because good LORD those things are time-consuming.  But molding an introduction to Renaissance literature through video, audio, blogs, wikis, and so forth sounds really worthwhile.

The problem is that this class is geared towards creating an end-product, and we have a mere handful of weeks left to determine the shape of that end-product, delegate tasks, and build it.

Thus, I'm going to through out some ideas for the two groups to which I have been assigned:

Brave New World

Although it kills me to say it, I think video would be a great entry point for Brave New World texts.  It is--aside from video games and interactive fiction, neither of which have much cultural respect as art at this time--the newest art form in existence.  Groping our way through creating some sort of video product that introduces and expounds upon travel literature, scientific treatises, the novel, and proto-science fiction would most certainly mimic the journey of Renaissance writers, while making the texts relevant and interesting to a modern audience.

I'm a little uncomfortable with the idea of a frame story, for several reasons.  First, I worry that not all of our texts would be able to slot easily into any kind of frame story, whether it be astronauts in the far future rediscovering the Renaissance or a time-traveling explorer meeting the authors of important texts.  Second, I think the video should be kept simple enough that large chunks of it can be created by individual students while at home.  We just do no have the time at this point to try to juggle 3+ people's schedules to allow for meeting and filming outside of class.  Third, we don't have any good costumes, and I have my artistic integrity to uphold!

Having said all that, I think it could be really interesting to, for example, create a mockumentary about students learning about Renaissance texts.  We could get some footage of our class time, with Professor Burton lecturing, the students in the back of the class dozing off or browsing Facebook, and a group of four students getting really excited and diving into the texts. 

We could create cut-away interview shots such as seen on The Office and Parks and Recreation where we discuss the texts and how we have engaged with them.  Those could be created at home on our respective webcams without a great deal of trouble, as we have already seen.  And we could script them or just do them free-form and cut together the best bits.

And we could tie it all together with an explanation of how to find out more about our class project or about the texts we reference.

Just a thought.

Sprezzatura

Audio drama, anyone?

One of the things that fascinated me about The Courtier was how the life of a courtier was demonstrated through the conversations and interactions between the characters as much as it was revealed through the discussions, themselves.  So a good, well-scripted audio drama might be able to do the same thing.

There are a bunch of ways to take this.  We could have an audio drama of courtiers discussing what life will be like in the future, with some "impromptu" poetry thrown in.  That would allow us to demonstrate sprezzatura while commenting on modern life and how it ties in with Renaissance movements.  Or we could have caricatures of ourselves haughtily discussing Renaissance court life as if we possessed sprezzatura.  Or we could have a fictional discussion between cyberpunk avatars in a virtual world discussing how the ideas of sprezzatura were integrated into the American culture during the early 21st century.  I don't know, I just think that an audio drama would really work for this theme.


I hope that my fellow classmates come to class tomorrow ready to lock down what our end-product should be.  See you then!

Poems and Sprezzatura

Welcome to the eRenaissance Project

a mockup cover
for our prospective eBook

Let's create an eBook that explores the connections between the European Renaissance of the 15th-17th centuries and the current digital renaissance. After all, doesn't one good renaissance deserve another?

That's the premise for this project, launched by students of a Renaissance literature course at Brigham Young University in early 2013. The embedded picture is a mockup cover for our prospective eBook. As we think through our book's content and form, we will make that process public on this blog.

Already we have been using the Open Renaissance Wiki to collect and organize our content and ideas. But with the blog we can interact better among ourselves and with potential readers of our finished book.

Six Themes
We have already identified six themes, lenses by which we can understand Renaissance literature. These have proven to be handy concepts for understanding our present day, and also for conceptualizing our own project: