Rocky Mountain E-Review of Language and LiteratureSpring 1998 CONTENTS Welcome to the Rocky Mountain E-Review Our first words come in appreciation of all the members and contributors whose willing and even enthusiastic cooperation made possible this, the first issue of the Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature in whose development we can truly consider ourselves instrumental. Those who have generously served as reviewers of articles submitted should be receiving, if they have not done so already, their well-earned and delicious thanks. The Secretariat promises to call an emergency meeting when the "Aplets and Cotlets" run out. Unable to separate "sentence and solas," as Chaucer would say--or education and enjoyment--we too have celebrated this issue by having Joan teach us how to make sushi. And to our mutual delight, we find ourselves coalescing as an editorial staff: learning each other's expertises, e-mailing with manic exhilaration, and even politely eating Rachel's sushi foul-ups. As you can see, we have made the promised changes in the Review, most noticeably beginning with its design. We hope that any disconcerting aesthetic rift in the bookshelf is more than compensated for by a new look which is both professional and contemporary. Next, you will note that in addition to the accessible literary scholarship, this issue features a new section entitled Forum, in which we hope contributors will continue initiating conversations about issues facing the profession and its participants. Please feel encouraged to contribute articles and/or responses in the form of letters to the editor by writing to us directly or, soon, via the RMMLA site on the World Wide Web (http://rmmla.innoved.org). Also, the first of our media reviews appear in this issue. More such reviews, and of more diverse resources for teachers and scholars, are already planned for future issues, but we welcome suggestions and invite more willing reviewers to contact us. Please note the schedule changes for the coming thematic issues of the Review. Additionally, we need to shriek some important reminders to contributors:
Michael Delahoyde
Articles The Vampiric and the Urban Space in Dalton Trevisan's O vampiro de Curitiba Andrew M. Gordus Dalton Trevisan, one of the preeminent short story writers of contemporary Brazilian letters, demonstrates a preoccupation with revealing the grotesque and horrific underside of modern urban life. Through an analysis of his works this paper attempts to demonstrate the vital link between the urban space and representations of the vampire and the vampiric. Comparisons with nineteenth-century literary representations of the vampire reveal a fear and pessimism toward Brazil's emerging cities and towards the government's official project of modernization. Brazil's growing metropolises rather than curing its economic and social ills are shown to be replicating its authoritarian and feudal past on multiple levels. "To Save the Life of the Novel": Sadomasochism and Representation in Wuthering Heights Robin DeRosa This essay explores the limits of representation, specifically how the novel form impedes a certain kind of transcendence which a narrative itself might endorse. Theory on the "death drive" suggests that there is a shattered identity, a merged, masochistic identity which offers the "subject" an escape from any interpellating ideologies. Wuthering Heights engages with these ideas, positing both a space outside of discourse and an inevitable retreat back into the discursive realm of the novel form. The essay explores the relationship between the "real" and the "romantic," and how these two terms both suggest a realm beyond the symbolic order which is inaccessible to authors and readers alike. Los acto-espacios y los espacios queer con una aplicación a la obra Don Juan Tenorio Francisco Manzo-Robledo The existence and confrontation of two main forces, one external (provided by society's pressures, religion and tradition) and one internal (provided by one's will), are said to define the limits within which each person acts: the act-space (acto-espacio). When the individual's act-space does not conform with society's expectations, a conflict occurs and a solution to the conflict is necessary. Sometimes the proposed solution is outside the society's imposed limitations, making necessary the creation of a queer-space, a space where there is room for solution to transgression. This notion, together with concepts from cultural and queer theory, serve as a critical instrument in the analysis of literary works. In this essay, Jose Zorrilla's Don Juan Tenorio serves as an example of such application. Forum First Aid for Listeners: Bonnie Zare Scientists don't do it. Many social scientists don't do it. And we ourselves never do it in the classroom. Why then do we, in the humanities, insist on reading our academic prose at conferences? Generally speaking, we now espouse post-structuralist epistemology, decenter the classroom, and discourage the "open-head-pour-in-information" model of teaching. Is it not hypocritical to leave the classroom and enter the professional conference only to barely be able to look at our esteemed peers as we direct our exclusive copy of prewritten speech at them? This article explains how and why this method has come to be accepted. It outlines alternatives that should better allow us to inspire our audience with the same excitement we experienced when making the intellectual discoveries we are describing. Translation "The Look-Alikes," by Eduardo Mendicutti Media Reviews Book Reviews Sex Scandal, The Private Parts of Victorian Fiction, by William A. Cohen Women Healers & Physicians: Climbing a Long Hill, ed. Lilian R. Furst Darke Hierogliphicks: Alchemy in English Literature from Chaucer to the Restoration, by Stanton J. Linden The Conversational Circle: Rereading the English Novel, 1740-1775, by Betty A. Schellenberg [article not available] Language and Gender in American Fiction: Howells, James, Wharton, and Cather, by Elsa Nettels Loving Arms: British Women Writing the Second World War, by Karen Schneider
|