{"title":"Epistolary Compassion in Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia","authors":"Emma Simpson-Weber","doi":"10.1353/pgn.2022.0056","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article takes Sir Philip Sidney's 'The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia' (1593) as a touchstone of the English tradition, arguing that early modern English romance authors redirect the Ovidian epistolary form to articulate a sympathy that ultimately facilitates satisfaction rather than loss. Ovid's 'Heroides' conceives of compassion as hinging on loss and separation. Whereas Ovid's heroines write to complain to the lovers who have abandoned or betrayed them, early modern prose romance adapts the epistolary discourse of complaint to support romantic union. Sidney's central female figures appeal to compassion that authorizes their writing, but in romance the female writer's story does not end in suffering. Romance is hopeful: it rewards compassion and demonstrates its practical, positive ends.","PeriodicalId":43576,"journal":{"name":"PARERGON","volume":"17 1","pages":"107 - 91"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2022-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"PARERGON","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/pgn.2022.0056","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"MEDIEVAL & RENAISSANCE STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract:This article takes Sir Philip Sidney's 'The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia' (1593) as a touchstone of the English tradition, arguing that early modern English romance authors redirect the Ovidian epistolary form to articulate a sympathy that ultimately facilitates satisfaction rather than loss. Ovid's 'Heroides' conceives of compassion as hinging on loss and separation. Whereas Ovid's heroines write to complain to the lovers who have abandoned or betrayed them, early modern prose romance adapts the epistolary discourse of complaint to support romantic union. Sidney's central female figures appeal to compassion that authorizes their writing, but in romance the female writer's story does not end in suffering. Romance is hopeful: it rewards compassion and demonstrates its practical, positive ends.
期刊介绍：
Parergon publishes articles and book reviews on all aspects of medieval and early modern studies. It has a particular focus on research which takes new approaches and crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries. Fully refereed and with an international Advisory Board, Parergon is the Southern Hemisphere"s leading journal for early European research. It is published by the Australian and New Zealand Association of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (Inc.) and has close links with the ARC Network for Early European Research.
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