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CU scholars eye the next frontier of Renaissance literary criticism

The disappearing bison of the 19^th听century appear far, far removed from Hamlet, prince of Denmark. But Heather James sees a connection, and it is a variation on a theme of extinction.

For James, an American painting of stampeding bison may help explain a line from 鈥淗amlet鈥� that has long puzzled her. 鈥淭here is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow,鈥� Hamlet says shortly before striding into the fight that will slay him.

James, an associate professor of English and comparative literature at the University of Southern California, joined a day-long symposium at the University of Colorado in late September. Its title was 鈥淭he Next English Renaissance: New Directions in Early Modern Literary Criticism.鈥�

Katherine Eggert, CU associate professor of English, is one of three English faculty members who planned the symposium, which brought five up-and-coming scholars to CU to discuss their 鈥済ame-changing鈥� analysis and criticism. David Glimp, CU associate professor of English, and Richelle Munkhoff, assistant professor of English, worked with Eggert to organize the symposium.

The idea, Eggert noted, was to highlight how the study of Renaissance literature is changing. Additionally, the symposium helped 鈥渟howcase our campus鈥� tremendous strengths in the study of the Renaissance.鈥�

Eggert explained the shifting direction of Renaissance literary criticism this way: For two decades, the study of English literature has dwelled on the work鈥檚 historical context.

鈥淵ou might think about Hamlet in terms of how the Renaissance viewed the afterlife鈥� or the meaning of the flowers Ophelia distributes, Eggert said. In Shakespeare鈥檚 day, some of those flowers were viewed as medicinal.

Such analysis has been wonderful, Eggert noted. 鈥淏ut we鈥檝e been doing this for 20 years or so, and now is the time to say, 鈥榃here are we going next?鈥欌��

As Eggert put it, Renaissance-literature scholars are increasingly incorporating the study of philosophy, history and the rest of the humanities, finding new ways to ponder the central question in the humanities: 鈥淲hat does it mean to be human?鈥�

鈥淧eople want to find meaning in literature again,鈥� she added. Expanding the scope of literary analysis and criticism鈥攁nd employing an explosion of newly digitized and universally accessible Renaissance works previously unavailable to most scholars鈥攑aved the way.

Enter Hamlet and bison, stage left.

James noted that her current research has plunged her into the art and culture of the American West of the 1860s. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 belong here. I rode in on Shakespeare,鈥� she quipped.

Nonetheless, her study of the early American West gave her new insight into the horse she rode in on. One fresh perspective came from a painter named William Jacob Hays, who meditated on the extinction of species as he traveled across the West in the 1860s, painting bison and other animals and plants.

One work, titled 鈥淗erd on the Move,鈥� depicts what initially appears as a pastoral scene: a huge herd of bison running across the plains. But, as James observed, the painting鈥檚 perspective is right in front of the charging animals. They look angry. From where the viewer stands, there is no escape.

The bison at the front of the herd are flanking left and right, making any salvation impossible. Further, a bison at the front of the herd is running toward鈥攁nd glaring at鈥攁 bison skull on the ground.

The bison 鈥渟eems to know something we don鈥檛,鈥� James said. 鈥淗e seems to know in an instant that the skull means death not only for him but for all of us.鈥�

But what is Hays to Hamlet, and what is Hamlet to Hays? Further, James asked, 鈥淐an a painting of bison by a minor painter of the American West influence our view of one of the most significant plays in the West?鈥�

Her answer is 鈥測es,鈥� and to buttress her case, she cited and article written by Hays and published in a journal called The American Naturalist in 1871. His essay, titled 鈥淣otes on the Range of Some of the Animals in America at the Time of the Arrival of the White Men,鈥� argued that few of people considered the 鈥減rodigious changes that have taken place in the animal life in the comparatively short time since the discovery of the country.鈥�

Later in the essay, Hays underscored the point: 鈥淎t the rate at which (bison) have been driven back and destroyed, it is probable that they will soon to be known only to history.鈥�

Hays鈥� article, addressed to East Coast naturalists, explains the painter鈥檚 view of the subject of his art. Further, James said, it explains why the bison glower at the viewer of the painting with a single, accusing look. 鈥淲e, the viewers, are the face of their death.鈥�

Meanwhile, the skull in the painting, with its gaping sockets that once held eyes, looks at humans as perpetrators. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 see ourselves this way, so Hays takes us back and emphasizes our consequences to the environment,鈥� James said.

In the case of Hamlet, seeing a human skull generates a similar sequence of thoughts. The skull, Hamlet learns, is that of Yorick, a 鈥渇ellow of infinite jest鈥� whom Hamlet knew as a child.

After exclaiming, 鈥淎las, poor Yorick, I knew him,鈥� Hamlet ponders the fate of Yorick and observes that if that once-vivacious man could be transformed into an inert skull, so can the bones of Alexander the Great. The dusty remains of imperious Caesar, he notes, might stop a hole to keep the wind away.

Viewing this scene from 鈥淗amlet鈥� through the lens of Hays and his 鈥渂ison Hamlet鈥� prompts a question: What if human existence is one species replacement after another ending in extinction for all?

鈥淚 like this view,鈥� James said. It helps explain a line of Hamlet鈥檚 that some find hard to interpret: 鈥淭here is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow.鈥� In this view, 鈥淗amlet鈥� could be noting, in part, a juggernaut of ecosystem destruction.

Such an interpretation is unusual because, 鈥淲e鈥檝e been busy thinking of the Renaissance as not apocalyptic.鈥�

Similarly, four other scholars offered fresh analyses of Renaissance literature. They were听, associate professor of English at the University of Delaware, who spoke on 鈥淩enaissance/Post-human鈥�; and听, associate professor of English at Rutgers University who spoke on 鈥淩ichard Hakluyt鈥檚 Polyglot Humanism.鈥�

Also appearing were听, associate professor of English at the University of California at Riverside, whose presentation was titled, 鈥溾�楴ot a word, sir鈥�: Gesture and Signing in Early Modern England鈥�; and听, associate professor of English at Ohio University, who discussed 鈥淲anting to Want to Repent in Tudor Despair Literature.鈥�

During the symposium, William Kuskin, associate professor and chair of CU鈥檚 English department, echoed and amplified Eggert鈥檚 remarks about the 鈥渘ext English Renaissance.鈥�

Kuskin said the well-worn patterns of literary criticism are changing for the better. 鈥淚t is criticism鈥檚 job to return to the past and to speak it now in the present,鈥� he said.

Today, amid the threats of budget cuts, withering criticism of universities on op-ed pages and the 鈥渃easeless demands that we justify ourselves,鈥� Kuskin said, it can鈥檛 be business as usual in academe.

鈥淲e need to sing poetics now and more readily,鈥� Kuskin intoned. 鈥淎nd so I say onwards, into the Renaissance.鈥�

Eggert noted that the study of Renaissance literature has long been a strength in the English department. The hiring of Glimp and Munkhoff, 鈥渨ho are extraordinary,鈥� augments that strength, she added.

Along with a strong Renaissance faculty across the humanities and arts and 鈥済reat library resources,鈥� Eggert said, 鈥淲e鈥檙e the best place to study Renaissance literature between Chicago and California. It鈥檚 kind of a secret at CU, and I wish it weren鈥檛.鈥�