Título del libro: Transgressive Womanhood: Investigating Vamps, Witches, Whores, Serial Killers And Monsters
Título del capítulo: Dangerous Beauty and the Aesthetics of Disgust in John Donne?s Elegy ?The Comparison?
NELYA BABYNETS;
Autores externos:
Idioma:
Año de publicación:
2019
Palabras clave:
Aesthetic of disgust; dangerous beauty; poetic device; visual culture; vituperation
Resumen:
The Renaissance conception of female beauty was paradoxical. On the one hand, physical attractiveness was longed for passionately since it was regarded as the supreme creation of God. On the other hand, beauty generated disturbing experiences such as erotic desire, which embodied the bestial side of human nature, induced by physical perfection. Thus, the main question for Renaissance artists was to discover the true essence of female beauty and to explore whether visual attractiveness could be seen as dangerous due to its power to make the corporeal aspects of earthly existence triumph over the spiritual ones. In my chapter I argue that John Donne?s elegy ?The Comparison? is illustrative of this cultural ambiguity since this humorous and at the same time, grotesque imitation of the Petrarchan praise of the beloved hides an intrinsic concern with the ambivalent character of feminine beauty. My chapter discusses the aesthetics of disgust that John Donne employs in this work in order to reveal the sinister nature of female attractiveness. I will explore the textual, visual and cultural strategies of ambiguity employed in this poem through an examination of the elegy?s oscillation between the fascination and repulsion inspired by beauty, which eventually leads to the discovery of new meanings. First of all, I will analyse the norms of aesthetic and cultural objectification of the female body in the Renaissance as seen in several examples of visual culture. Deviant female types will be the focal point of my critical approach. I will also consider the vituperation that Donne employs in ?The Comparison? as a rhetorical device in its own right. This verbal violence and the imagery constructed through it embody the internal structure of a poetic discourse that governs the unfolding of connotative meanings while simultaneously revealing a cultural model that links danger and beauty. © Inter-Disciplinary Press 2014.
Entidades citadas de la UNAM:
ISBN:
9781848882836
Editorial:
Brill Nombre de la publicación:
Dangerous Beauty and the Aesthetics of Disgust in John Donne?s Elegy ?The Comparison?
Página inicial:
3
Página final:
14
