Wonder, Touch, and Subjectivity in Scève's Délie
Accepted version
Peer-reviewed
Repository URI
Repository DOI
Change log
Authors
Guild, Elizabeth
Abstract
This article explores embodiment and the search for knowledge of self precipitated by falling in love in Scève's Délie (1544). Scève's version of the ‘look of love’ draws together divergent elements: wonder (distal, associated with the mind) and touch (associated with contiguity and the body). The meaning of Scève's wondrous ‘poingnant' veue’ exceeds prevailing theories of vision/knowledge and Petrarchan poetics. Wonder initiates the desire for knowledge, but this look penetrates, therefore touches: what is happening physiologically, emotionally, epistemologically, and poetically? Focus on wonder's and touch's operations sheds light on the text's representation of love, knowledge, and embodied subjectivity.
Description
Keywords
47 Language, Communication and Culture, 4703 Language Studies, 4705 Literary Studies
Journal Title
Modern Language Review
Conference Name
Journal ISSN
0026-7937
Volume Title
112
Publisher
Modern Humanities Research Association