Oct 28, 2016 | 2:50 PM - 4:50 PM | STUDIO THEATRE

Mr. Christopher Cameron, Bachelor of Arts (Honours)

Chastity, or Not; Non-Events and Anxieties Caused by the Unknowable

“Enterprises of great pitch and moment With this regard their Currents turn awry And lose the name of Action” (Hamlet 3.1.87-89)

            Shakespearean characters are remarkably concerned with things that do not actually happen. This is not to say that their concerns are not valid, as all of these non-events revolve around a distorted perception of reality, a misunderstanding of the truth or an outright lie. These non-events directly lead to ultimate tragedy in Othello, Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, but in terms of gender and sexuality, non-events have implications upon a woman’s chastity. As an un-locatable and unknowable attribute, chastity often hinges on, as Cassio laments, “Reputation!” (Othello 2.3.226).

Thus, a woman’s chastity is dependent on the opinion of others, and therefore subject to change based on perceptions of reality, understandings of the truth and outright lies. Just as trepidation at the prospect of the unknown causes the metaphorical paralysis of Hamlet, the unknowable quality of chastity vexes men, and the manipulation of that vexation by other characters or early modern notions of sexuality leads to tragedy for the women, and by extension, men as well.            

In my research, I will pursue the effects of non-events on actions or inactions of Shakespearean characters as they relate to chastity. When a woman’s chastity is questioned by a misunderstanding of circumstance or a lie, she exists in a double state; on both sides of the virgin/whore binary (both being and not being). This seemingly paralyzing situation is often negotiated horribly by the men of the play to disastrous ends. Thus, when the name of action is forced on enterprises of great pitch and moment, the currents turn awry even more so than before.

Ms. Maria Anna Mariani, Ph.D

Primo Levi’s “Bad Nanny” and the Sin of Fiction

“Vice”, “transgression”, “fraud”, “joke”, “moral trap”: these are some of the words used by Primo Levi to describe his work of fiction. Writing fiction, according to Levi, risks upsetting the other survivors, and could be perceived as a betrayal of his duty of witnessing. In order to distance himself from this ‘sinful’ production, Levi assigns its paternity to a pseudonym: Damiano Malabaila. Malabaila in Italian means “bad nanny,” hinting both at a disgraceful education and a dangerous nourishment. My talk will explore the significance behind Levi’s choice of such a pseudonym, by revealing the derogatory concept of fiction that lies underneath it. Through a close reading of the short stories stigmatized by the author, especially Stanco di finzioni (Tired of Fictions), this talk will ultimately seek to ‘absolve’ Levi’s fictional production by demonstrating its crucial role in attenuating the trauma of deportation and constructing a sort of  ‘truce’ with direct recollection, in contrast with the potential renewed harm stemming from unadulterated and ‘pure’ testimony.

Dr. Jeannie Zeck, Ph.D.

The Power of Memory and Symbol in Annie Proulx's "Brokeback Mountain"

In Annie Proulx’s short story “Brokeback Mountain,” three memories shape the lives of the protagonists Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar. Jack’s childhood memory of humiliation at his father’s hands evokes shame; Ennis’ childhood memory of his father’s lesson about homosexuals creates fear, and the memory they make together of an embrace before the campfire on Brokeback Mountain brings comfort and a deep sense of peace.

While the two childhood memories are furnished by fathers and are sources of pain for the grown sons, the embrace, rocking, and humming are tender and maternal: the gentle words Ennis utters, “Time to hit the hay, cowboy,” are “a rusty, but still usable phrase from the time before his mother died.”

Although Jack accepts his sexuality and continually urges Ennis to live with him, Ennis questions his own desire, rejects homosexuality, and insists that he and Jack make do with a few days spent together once in a while in the wilderness. Due to the lesson his father and his culture taught him, Ennis cannot accept the truth of his sexuality and cannot commit to a life with Jack.

To illustrate the complexity of the men’s situation, Proulx employs subtle symbolism, which both reveals the limitations imposed on them and the depth of their love. I use semiotics to explore the power of memories and symbols in the short story.

Ms. Samantha Younan, Bachelor of Arts

To Love Thyself: A Proposal for Rereading Speech and Acts within Romeo and Juliet as Masturbatory

Truth, Lies, and Manufacturing Memory all rely on language for their construction. The state in which texts are written and read are often based around the time and cultural assumptions they are composed under, making most texts problematic. In “Courtship, Sex, and Marriage,” Ian Moulton concludes “early modern culture left almost no written mention of such seemingly common practices as masturbation” (146). Certainly, critical readings of female sexual experience within early modern plays have ignored the sexual frankness in which many heroines spoke, prompting Mary Bly to write that Juliet Capulet’s language is a very rare combination of “both chaste and desirous” (97). In Romeo and Juliet, Capulet’s fury towards Juliet’s refusal of marriage to Paris constructs her as “A peevish selfe-wild harlotry” (4.2.16-17), which is interpreted as meaning that by “obstinately refusing marriage, Juliet “is gratifying her self-will…or masturbation” (359). According to Valerie Traub, masturbation, was an act of sodomy since sodomy included “all sexuality that does not have procreation as its goal” (Traub 432), making acts of masturbation acts of sexual deviance and therefore, dangerous as they threatened cultural ideas about a woman’s chastity.   

The way Romeo and Juliet points to masturbatory acts, as well as the way masturbation was viewed reveal that theatre did not exclude acts of masturbation, but rather, that critics have tended to misread acts of female self-love, calling for a revision. I intend to explore masturbation within Romeo and Juliet by looking at the way language is used in Juliet’s soliloquies in order to prove that records of female masturbation do exist but that they have often been misinterpreted in favour of the tendency to privilege heterosexual desire. By examining instances of masturbation, new interpretations of characters emerge, whereby they are not the chaste females they are often thought to be.

Biographies

Christopher Cameron

Christopher Cameron is a graduate student (M.A. Candidate) at the Department of English, Language, Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Windsor. His research interests include Early Modern and Shakespearean Drama, queer theory and topics of gender and sexuality. More specifically, his work examines questions of virginity and chastity on the stage in Early Modern England with particular focus of Shakespeare.

Maria Anna Mariani

Maria Anna Mariani is Assistant Professor of Modern Italian Literature at the University of Chicago. After completing her Ph. D. in Theory of Literature at the University of Siena, she moved to South Korea, where she taught four years at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. Mariani is co-author of a three-volume anthology designed for high school (LiberaMente: Palumbo 2010) and of a monograph devoted to her privileged field of research: the link between autobiography, memory and narrative (Sull’autobiografia contemporanea. Nathalie Sarraute, Elias Canetti, Alice Munro, Primo Levi: Carocci 2012).

Other selected publications: •    “Memoria di carta, genealogia d’inchiostro. Sulla Ricerca delle radici di Primo Levi,” in Quaderni d’Italianistica, 35, 1, 2014. •     “Decantare il ricordo. Fiction e non fiction in Primo Levi,” in Esperienze letterarie, 36, 4, 2011. •  “Svevo e Nietzsche,” in Allegoria, 21, 59, 11, 2009. •       “Petrolio come riscrittura,” in Allegoria, 52-53, 18, 2006.

Dr. Jeannie Zeck

Dr. Jeannie Zeck is a professor at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois, where she teaches American literature, cultural studies, and rhetoric. Her areas of expertise include contemporary American drama, African American literature, women’s literature, autobiography, and poetry. During a sabbatical, she studied August Wilson's 10-play Pittsburgh Cycle, then developed a course in which students analyzed the plays and saw professional productions in Chicago, Illinois, and Indianapolis, Indiana. She is dedicated to diversity and social justice within and beyond the classroom. Also, she is a 200-hour registered yoga teacher.

Publications:

With Berent, Georgine R., Leischner, Julia A., and Berent, Elizabeth A. “Yoga as an Alternative          Intervention for Promoting a Healthy Lifestyle among College Students.” Journal of Addictions          Nursing. 25.4 (2014): 167-171. Print.

"Jeannie Zeck on August Wilson." Quiddity: International Literary Journal 6.1 (2013): 100-105. Print.

"Samantha Hughes: In Country." Students' Guide to American Literary Characters. Gale, 2006. Print.

"Bobbie Ann Mason's In Country: A Girl's Quest for her Father and Herself." Women in Literature:          Evaluating Fiction for Gender Bias. Eds. Jerilyn Fisher and Ellen S. Silber. Westport: Greenwood,          2003. 154-56. Print.

"Stumbling toward Ecstasy: Cyrano de Bergerac as Comedy in the Films of Steve Martin and Audrey          Wells." Literature Film Quarterly 27:3 (1999): 218–222. Print.

"An Interactive Classroom Comes to Life: Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun as Representative           Text." Making Connections: An Interdisciplinary Journal for Teachers of Cultural Diversity (1997).           Print.

"Examining 'Power and Love' through Domestic Fiction: An Interview with Jane Smiley."  The Crab           Orchard Review  1.1 (1995). Print.

"Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine." The Explicator  54.1 (1995): 58-60. Print.

"'Shining in the Dark': Jinny's Reign as Sun Goddess." Virginia Woolf: Emerging Perspectives.          Selected Papers from the Third Annual Conference on Virginia Woolf, Jefferson City, 10-13 June          1993. Eds. Mark Hussey and Vara Neverow.  New York: Pace, 1994. 126-31. Print.

Samantha Younan

I completed my Bachelor of Arts with a double major in English Language and Literature and Communications, Media, and Film from the University of Windsor in 2015. While completing my undergraduate degree, I was fortunate enough to complete a yearlong study abroad placement at The University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, where I was able to further my love of Early Modern drama and expand my understanding of British Literature. In the fall of 2015, I joined the M.A. program in English Language and Literature at the University of Windsor, a program I hope to complete in April 2017. I have recently worked as a Research Assistant for a book about cityscapes and public art forms (currently under publication). Along with my passion for public art and theatre, I also enjoy learning new languages, and am now fluent in English, French, and Italian. My interests lie in gender studies and I am particularly interested in female-authored works that unsettle cultural and historical perceptions about women and their work within the literary cannon. I am also heavily invested in children’s literature, having worked as a Graduate Assistant for a hybrid learning class on the topic, where I completed certifications for online learning and teaching strategies.