Month: June 2020

Medieval Readalong: Guinevere

oldshrewsburyian:

I didn’t plan to have a weekly feature about the ladies of Malory, but hey, let’s see how far we can go with this! I’m particularly interested in exploring Guinevere because Malory changes so much about her, and because so much about her has, of course, been changed in receptions and adaptations since.

A short version of the Guineveres Malory was working with: Geoffrey of Monmouth had made her part of the (sub-)Roman elite, chosen by Arthur for her beauty, but also a woman who would betray him sexually and politically, committing adultery with Mordred and setting up as queen in her own right with Mordred at her side. Chrétien de Troyes introduced Lancelot to the mythos, made him Guinevere’s lover instead of Mordred, and made Guinevere the ideal mistress of the courtly romance tradition.

Malory (I argue) gives Guinevere more depth, but at least in her introduction in Book IV, she’s still a bit of an enigma. Arthur is deeply in love with her, and has been for a long time. We don’t know the contexts in which they’ve met before; we just know this. And “there as a man’s heart is set, he will be loath to return,” as Merlin says. Also, and to me poignantly, Arthur loves her because she is valiant, as well as because she is fair. What we do not know is how Guinevere feels about all this. Arthur says that nothing is as welcome to him as she is. She says… nothing. Tennyson, of course, makes much of this.

What we do get, over the course of the comparatively brief Book IV, is Guinevere being given authority within the court, and then claiming such authority herself, as well as taking joint agency with Arthur. At the conclusion of the first quest ordained at the marriage feast, it is Guinevere who makes ordinance concerning Gawaine’s proper recompense. After the second quest, we are told that the king and queen 1) ask Sir Tor to tell them what happened 2) make great joy when he has told them. And at the end of the third quest, we not only get this linking of Arthur and Guinevere, but also Guinevere’s own voice in the court, and not only that, but her speaking openly and frankly. And the oath of all the knights of the Table Round includes a version of the ordinance she laid on Sir Gawaine. 

So we are shown (not told) that Guinevere becomes Arthur’s active partner in presiding over the affairs of the court, and that she seems to adapt to it readily and well. We know that she is valiant. Merlin has told Arthur that “Lancelot should love her, and she him again.” But this is not foreknowledge that Guinevere has. So what does she make of this new community, her new power, her new husband? 

…Part of me has maybe not shaken off the version of King Arthur I had when I was 5 (Blanche Winder’s) in which Guinevere was joyful as well as beautiful and loved.

hedgehog-moss: I recently told my librarian that late Thursday afternoons are a special time in my…

hedgehog-moss:

I recently told my librarian that late Thursday afternoons are a special time in my week because Friday is my library day, so I often end up like “ahhh I still haven’t finished my library books!!” the day before, and then I have no choice but to sit down and read no matter how much work I have to do. And she was like “aw but you can return some books late, you know I don’t mind at all!” and I paused then repeated “and then I have no choice but to sit down and read no matter how much work I have to do” and she said “OH!! Our deadlines are very strict actually. Yes… just remembered the huge fine.”

Reading about the early history of printing in the 15th century but I keep getting distracted and…

Reading about the early history of printing in the 15th century but I keep getting distracted and giggling because the guy who succeeded the famous William Caxton after he introduced the printing press to England was called Wynkyn de Worde. Wynkyn de Worde! And he was a printer/publisher! There seems to be some debate about the name’s origin and he might actually have been John/Johannes/Jan Wynkyn but, still, what a fantastically appropiate name!

Tagged by @erinbeatty – thank you! (Answering this on my main just to keep everything in the right…

Tagged by @erinbeatty - thank you! (Answering this on my main just to keep everything in the right place.)

Name: Laura.

Nickname: Not a lot you can do with Laura really.

Zodiac: Taurus.

Favourite music/bands: Mostly folk or folk rock these days. Traditional or contemporary, it’s all good. Some particular favourites at the moment are Karine Polwart, Jim Moray, Greg Russell & Ciaran Algar, Julie Fowlis, Emily Portman, False Lights, Sam Kelly, and Ruth Notman.

Favourite sports team: Don’t really have one. I vaguely follow the England cricket team but that’s about it.

Other blogs: Just this and the writing blog. I’m thinking of setting up an Animal Crossing blog or a Welsh history blog though (hey, I contain multitudes!).

Do you get asks: Haha, no, not very often.

How many blogs do you follow: 407 apparently, which is a lot more than I expected!

Tumblr crushes: I always enjoy reading posts from @teashoesandhair, @morgauseoforkney, @lloerwyn, @lettersfromthelighthouse and @bookhobbit.

Lucky number: 3.

What are you wearing right now: A short-sleeved jersey dress - purple, navy and white with a kind of stripey pattern, navy leggings and my favourite socks (they’re purple with bees on!). With minor modifications for the seasons that’s basically my ‘uniform.’

Dream vacation: Iceland or Norway. I’d love to see the Northern Lights or go on a fjord cruise. I’d also quite like to experience Christmas markets in Germany (guess my favourite season).

Dream car: I really couldn’t care less about about cars, haha. As long as it gets me from A to B reliably I’m good. I guess maybe a Volkswagen Beetle or one of those vintage/hippie Volkswagen camper vans? They both look pretty cool!

Favourite food: I’m a crappy cook but I love food and could talk about this all day! To name only a few - lots of different kinds of curry, pad thai, sushi, burgers, cherry bakwell tarts, apple pie. Jalebis too, which I can’t eat any more. :( Oh, and ‘Swansea Fisherman’s Breakfast,’ which I had at this one B&B in Cardigan. It’s cockles, bacon, and laverbread cooked in cream and served on toast with some chopped chives. Delicious!

Drink of choice: Tea! Always tea. I even have a tea tag on this blog. Specifically Earl Grey, spicy Chai or Lapsang Souchong. When I want something cold I tend to go for ginger beer, coke or lemonade.

Instruments: I played violin throughout school and had some acoustic guitar lessons but I’m terrible at both because I never practised enough. I was also part of a djembe drumming group for a while and that was great fun.

Languages: English is my first language. I started learning Welsh as a kid and I’m sort of edging my way towards intermediate level there now. I also picked up a tiny bit of Latin at university. Other than that though it’s just what scraps of French I can remember from school. I’d love to get a grip on the basics of Icelandic or Old English but I always find it really difficult to try and teach myself things.

Celebrity crush: Dev Patel.

Random fact: I collect stuff with bees on.

Favourite ecosystem: It’s a toss up between tundra, taiga, and temperate rainforests.

Favourite cat: Maine Coons and Norwegian Forest cats. Or Scottish wildcats for a non-domestic kind.

Tagging: @troiings, @ellatholmes, @ambarwen and @allspiritandfireanddew, but only if you want to. Feel free to ignore!

“It is a human thing to do to put something you want, because it’s useful, edible, or beautiful, into…”

“It is a human thing to do to put something you want, because it’s useful, edible, or beautiful, into a bag, or a basket, or a bit of rolled up bark or leaf, or a net woven of your own hair, or what have you, and then take it home with you, home being another, larger kind of pouch or bag, a container for people, and then later you take it out and eat it or share it or store it up for winter in a solider container or put it in the medicine bundle or the shrine or the museum, the holy place, the area that contains what is sacred, and then next day you probably do much the same again - if to do that is human if that’s what it takes, then I am a human being after all. Fully, freely, gladly, for the first time.”

- Ursula K Le Guin, The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction.

finnlongman: I’ve been very quiet these last few days – as a white British person, it seemed more…

finnlongman:

I’ve been very quiet these last few days – as a white British person, it seemed more important to keep quiet, listen and put the work in offline to make sure I’m part of the solution and not part of the problem, than to performatively demonstrate that I care. (If I had an audience, it would be different, but let’s be honest – I don’t.) There are a great many petitions and donation links circulating at the moment – if your Tumblr dash and Twitter feed look anything like mine, you’ve seen them twenty times already today, and these are proof that there’s a lot we can all do from behind our computer screens.

However, most of these links are, understandably, US-focused, so for those of us in the UK it can be difficult to know the best way to help. One thing many of us might not have been aware of is the fact that the UK sells tear gas and rubber bullets to the US. There has rightfully been a lot of discussion about how the UK is far from innocent when it comes to racism and police brutality, but our goverment’s direct role in supporting and exacerbating the violence currently occurring in the US is often overlooked.

Like many people, I was ignorant of the danger posed by rubber bullets – the name is disingenuous for something that can be profoundly disabling if not fatal. A photojournalist lost her left eye a few days ago and is now partially blind (she’s already working again and being extremely badass about the whole thing). Tear gas is evil at the best of times, but during a pandemic that affects the respiratory system, it is unfathomable. To continue to sell these weapons to the US makes our country complicit in the lives lost and injury caused.

There’s been a call for these sales to be suspended (see article linked above), which would send a clear message that the UK does not condone this brutality. It’s only a drop in the ocean when it comes to putting a stop to the harm caused by the UK arms trade more generally, but it’s a drop that would help.

So please, if you’re in the UK, write to your MP in support of suspending these sales. While you’re there, ask them to condemn Trump’s response, and demand that the government release the delayed report about BAME Covid-19 deaths. It’s easy to feel helpless adding your name to dozens of change.org petitions, but there are concrete issues you can approach your elected representatives about, and these are some of them. None of us can fix the world, but we can help.

You can write to your MP very easily using WriteToThem.com. You don’t need to be registered to vote, you just need to live in their constituency. If you have a home and term-time address (e.g. you’re a university student), you have two MPs. You don’t need to know their name, because WriteToThem will find them for you. You don’t need to send a long, thought-out email (although that’s great!), you just need to make it clear to them that this is an issue their constituents care about.

The world is awful right now.  Let’s do what we can to make it a tiny bit less awful. <3